Credentials
Meet Dan
Founder, Elemental Collaborative
Dan is a recovery coach, executive coach, and the founder of Elemental Collaborative. He works with high-achieving individuals and families navigating substance use, mental health challenges, and the performance gap — the space between how life looks on paper and how it actually feels.
Background
Dan grew up in a close, supportive family in Rochester, New York. He was a strong student, a multi-sport athlete, and consistently the person others looked to as having it together. That pattern followed him. He excelled academically, earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering, and built a career marked by technical achievement — patents, publications, and recognition in his field.
Underneath that, for a long time, something else was running. Alcohol and substances became a way of managing the pressure, the perfectionism, and the growing gap between how things looked and how they actually felt. He was high-functioning — and struggling in ways that weren't visible to the people around him.
What He Understands
Dan knows what it's like to be performing at a high level while privately managing something that's taking more and more space. He knows the specific way high-achievers rationalize, the particular shame that comes from not being able to "just stop," and the exhaustion of carrying it alone.
He also knows what it takes to build something real on the other side. After multiple attempts at treatment, he surrendered — and began the work of building an actual recovery system. Not a single program or a single tool, but a coordinated set of supports across every area of life that addiction had touched.
Why It Matters for High Achievers
The standard tools of recovery — AA, therapy, medication — work. They're not always enough on their own. High-functioning people need someone who speaks their language: someone who understands careers, understands performance, and can help apply recovery tools to a life that doesn't stop while you're getting better.
Dan bridges that. He brings the engineering mindset — systematic, accountability-focused, built around measurable outcomes — to the work of recovery coaching. And he brings lived experience to every conversation.
Today
Dan works with individuals and families across New York City, Westchester County, Long Island, and Fairfield County, CT — and virtually with clients nationwide. He serves as a recovery coach, executive coach, and care coordinator depending on what a client needs.
Outside of work, he runs, plays golf, spends time with family, and stays closely connected to the recovery community. He finds meaning in the work in a way that didn't exist in his previous career — and that, he'll tell you, makes all the difference.
"The goal isn't perfection. It's building a life you no longer feel the need to escape from."
— Daniel Sturnick