Riding Elephants: An Experience in Grief, Loss, and Ultimately Redemption

Riding Elephants is the true story of a family ravaged by mental illness, one member following another, as recalled through the eye of the eldest daughter, now a licensed psychotherapist.

Dr. Jennifer Cox offers a tale of love, grief, and finding meaning, and purpose in a past of perpetual heartache and struggle. As a debut memoirist and a psychotherapist she offers educational and insightful musings on the nature and experience of mental illness and far-reaching effects for so many.

Robert is an appliance repairman in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and the father of three children. He has struggled with Bipolar Disorder for many years, but has continued to essentially function as provider, father, and partner to Jan. That is until one day, in a psychotic state, he drives his truck into the front of the family home because "he just forgot to stop." Life is never the same for his family as they spiral into a life of homelessness, poverty, and further emerging mental illness.

In this story, Dr. Cox reveals the devastating and immeasurable impact that parental mental illness has on their children and how awareness, education, and access to resources could prevent such tragedy.