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Meet Warren: an occupational therapist on a mission
It’s the Royal College of Occupational Therapists special celebratory week aimed at raising awareness of the role occupational therapists play in transforming health and social care by helping people to stay well and live independently.
This year the focus is prevention and early intervention to help people before they reach a crisis point.
To mark this special occasion, we meet Warren Dunkley, an Occupational Therapist at Oxleas NHS for 20 years and former professional boxer, who has spent the past 12 years working with patients facing severe and enduring mental illness. It was during his time on acute mental health wards that he began experimenting with an unconventional therapeutic tool: his boxing gloves and pads.
The response was striking. Patients who had been disengaged with traditional interventions showed marked improvements in motivation, confidence, and mood when physical activity and structure were integrated into their occupational therapy sessions. This wasn't simply about exercise, it was about meaningful occupation, skill development, and the therapeutic use of self in a different context.
This work led Warren to establish charity Off The Ropes, a pioneering non-contact boxing and wellbeing charity, that exemplifies the innovative potential of occupational therapy practice. Delivering evidence-based programmes across multiple NHS sites, Warren was shortlisted for the Health and Wellbeing Champion Award in 2020.
To support these improvements, Oxleas NHS has granted Off The Ropes a ten-year lease for a permanent base that will enable the charity to significantly expand its reach, providing support for both inpatients and outpatients. It will serve mental health service users as well as young people, individuals with learning disabilities, and those living with Parkinson's, dementia, and other neurological conditions.
I had no purpose in my life. Off The Ropes have given me structure and I feel like I've joined the human race again. I can see myself going back to work now, which I couldn't do before.
Recognising the potential, Warren, who holds both a degree in sports science and qualifications as a boxing trainer, developed a framework to enable non-contact boxing to be delivered safely within clinical settings. He presented this framework to the British Boxing Board (featured on Sky Sports) and not long after, Off The Ropes was formed.
Central to Warren's approach is the requirement that coaches are ideally dual-trained, qualified and experienced within boxing and have either lived experience or work directly within mental health services.
This ensures therapeutic integrity while delivering activity-based interventions that directly support the 10-year health plan by focusing on prevention and keeping people well in the community. The charity also creates employment pathways for former service users, enabling them to train as coaches and find meaningful occupation in sport.
Warren's work demonstrates how occupational therapists can lead innovation at the intersection of health, activity, and social inclusion, proving that with vision and evidence-based practice, new models of care can truly meet people where they are.
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