\u201cNormally, there are four of us,\u201d she pauses. \u201cIt is not usually like this.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She often trains as the only woman<\/a> in the room, but says she has never felt unsafe. \u201cYou would think a sport like this would feel intimidating,\u201d Lauren admits. \u201cBut I have never once felt uncomfortable here.\u201d Boxing has historically been seen as a boys\u2019 sport, but she dismisses the idea immediately. \u201cThat is what people outside think. It is not like that in here.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n During training her concentration improves in a way medication alone wasn\u2019t able to do. \u201cWarren helps me with that. My focus is much better here,\u201d Lauren says. And so is her physical health: \u201cAt the start of the year I was 22 stone. I am 18 stone 4lbs now. I stopped smoking. I stopped drinking. I love getting a sweat on.\u201d Her relationship with Dunkley is central to her confidence. \u201cHe is like a father to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel believed in here. I am not just a diagnosis. I can be myself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Lauren speaks with pride about the long road to this gym. \u201cWe started in a little hall in Swanley. Then a tiny space in another gym. Warren spent years trying to find somewhere. Now look at this. I come three or four times a week. I live for boxing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Off the Ropes began with Dunkley\u2019s ward sessions. It expanded when he and another co-founder, psychiatrist Dr Patrick Davey, started asking what happened once people were discharged. Too often, they returned to hospital because there was nothing to structure their days once they were home.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dunkley had boxed as a child and picked it up again in his 20s when he felt something was missing. He worked in construction, studied sports science and eventually joined the NHS<\/a>. His first role was in On the ward in Bromley, he saw how exercise shifted things. He saw how slow pacing and medication could drain motivation, how boredom simmered into frustration, and how frustration could escalate into conflict. Boxing sessions often cut through that. He began imagining a community version \u2013 somewhere that offered consistency, not just a burst of activity that ended with discharge. They set up Off the Ropes as a charity and borrowed any space available: a hall in Swanley, a corner of a busy gym, whatever they could find.\u00a0<\/p>\n One evening, Dunkley emailed Okocha to ask whether the trust had any unused buildings. The reply arrived half an hour later. As Okocha puts it: \u201cWe had this building, and like most NHS organisations, we\u2019re keen to have a presence in the community we serve. This is a resource that\u2019s not just for those who use our services in the hospital, but for the local community as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The new gym now serves two groups. People under Oxleas\u2019 mental health services attend for free as part of their treatment. Local residents can self-refer for \u00a34 a session. If the fee is difficult, the team adapts, Dunkley adds. \u201cNo one should feel they cannot come because of that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Okocha sees the space as more than a gym: \u201cThis is a bridge that helps people settle into the community \u2013 making friends, making connections, somewhere to come to. Isolation and loneliness are reduced.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n He also links it to wider health inequalities. \u201cThose with severe and enduring mental illness tend to die sometimes 15 or 20 years earlier than others,\u201d he says. \u201cInvolvement in exercise that helps their physical health improves their life chances.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n That dual purpose, mental and physical health, aligns with NHS strategy. \u201cThe 10-year health plan<\/a> talks about prevention,\u201d Okocha says. \u201cThis will prevent physical ill health in some people. It talks about doing more in the community<\/a>. And it talks about being an anchor institution \u2013 where the community recognises that you are there to serve them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n And while the boxing gym is unique, Okocha stresses that you don\u2019t need specialised equipment to support your mental health. \u201cWalking is easy and not expensive. Ten thousand steps, 10 kilometres if you can manage it. The evidence is huge, and you don\u2019t need to go to a gym.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Goldie Leigh may be the first NHS site to house a boxing ring, but it is unlikely to stay unique for long. The pressures facing mental health services demand new ways to keep people well, connected and active. What\u2019s happening in this small building points to something larger: a model of care that blends clinical support with places people actually want to spend time. If the future of the NHS lies closer to its communities, it may well look a little like this.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do you have a story to tell or opinions to share about this?\u00a0Get in touch and tell us more<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Advertising helps fund Big Issue\u2019s mission to end poverty<\/p>\n Change a vendor\u2019s life this winter.<\/p>\n Buy from your local Big Issue vendor every week \u2013 and always take the magazine. It\u2019s how vendors earn with dignity and how we fund our work to end poverty.<\/p>\n You can also support online with a\u00a0vendor support kit<\/a>\u00a0or a\u00a0magazine subscription<\/a>. Thank you for standing with Big Issue vendors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On opening day in November 2025, when Big Issue first visited, the room is in constant motion. Gloves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,7813,143800,961,457,82],"class_list":["post-397913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-from-the-magazine","tag-health-and-wellbeing","tag-nhs","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1699-NHS_Boxing_Drop_in_01.jpg\")
Warren Dunkley in his professional boxing heyday<\/p>\n
neuro-rehabilitation, helping people adjust to life after catastrophic injury \u2013 work he describes as humbling. He later qualified as an occupational therapist and moved into mental health, bringing what he calls the \u201cindustry of purpose\u201d into patient care.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/50-OFF-CTA-Desktop-800x250-1.jpg\")
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