Introducing Diane Foy, Psychologist

I am the youngest and only girl of a family of 6 children. I live about 4 miles from the home I grew up in, in suburban Minneapolis. During my undergrad education I worked as a youth leader leading activities including boundary waters canoe trips, ski trips and trust building activities. I became a trusted adult to many youth and this is where I was first called upon to intervene in a mental health crisis.I knew then that working with people was my passion.

My two older brothers have also inspired me, as they have sustained and flourished in a 30-plus years of marriage. I started my own observation of couples’ relationship dynamics by watching my brothers and their spouses interact. I realized I had a knack for observing and understanding the undercurrents within relationships. My brothers and their wives have been inspirational to watch as they formed and nurtured relationships.

Observation alone, however, didn’t help my own marriage. It ended in divorce. And ignited in me the passion to pursue better ways to help relationships and my daughter, who is a sophomore in Winnipeg, Canada studying biology. My own marriage could have been saved, and my family preserved, if there had been evidence-based couple’s therapists at the time of my own relationship troubles. Back then I needed someone like myself to fight hard for my marriage and to have hope when we both lost the vision that it was possible to stay together in a happy, satisfying marriage.

I am stubborn, and this means I don’t give up. I fight to the bitter end for something that I believe in.

And I believe in couples. I believe in committed relationships.

After my divorce, I began reading every Gottman book as it was published and began training in the Gottman Method when I learned of it. My goal was to become a more competent, evidence-based couple’s therapist.

Why?  

Because helping couples helps the entire family system. Loving families impact our society as a whole. Healthy kids become healthy, productive adults with a purpose.

I can see love potential in distressed relationships. I know how to help couples rekindle a lost connection and find that best friend partner again. I love to hear couples say they feel hope for the relationship again and appreciate their partner. That they’ve both gotten back the marriage they’ve been longing for. That’s truly rewarding and satisfying for me.  

I’m an optimist and bring hope and opportunity for change to my clients. My goal is to create an atmosphere of warmth and acceptance without judgement for my clients, so they can feel safe to speak their truth, voice their pain, and look for a brighter future.

Thanks to my aunt, I live for the outdoors! I began hiking with my aunt when I was in elementary school. She took me to northern Minnesota and we camped and hiked for a week. We explored state parks and hiked along rivers and up the tallest point in Minnesota: Eagle Mountain. I was hooked!

I began biking with the same aunt when I was young.  She had a tandem bike and we would hop on, me on the back, and ride along the bike paths that wound through Minneapolis, stopping at favorite destinations such as a nearby creek or a war memorial.

The destinations seemed so far away as a child and now I see those same destinations as just a short journey along the way to a greater ride. Much the same as couple’s therapy; at the time it can seem like an insurmountable path but once the relationship has progressed and the couple has healed and is feeling attuned, looking back, therapy seems like a short path to a greater destination.

My aunt helped me to discover nature and all its beauty and has been influential throughout my life. She has also been a source of encouragement and support through my educational and career choices.