Mental Health Awareness Week takes place from 18 – 23 May and with this in mind we have chosen Duke McKenzie as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Duke McKenzie is a former boxer and three weight world champion and an ambassador for the mental health charity MIND.

In 1995, Duke’s brother, best friend and mentor Dudley McKenzie tragically took his own life. Dudley’s suicide left Duke passionate about mental health, particularly within the sporting world, leading him to actively support Mind for the past nine years.

Duke helped launch Mind’s partnership with Heads Together, giving a taster boxercise class to Prince Harry and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at the Olympic Park.

He coached boxercise at Mind in Croydon and has recently helped shape Mind’s Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity training, which he also helped launch in 2019.

As an ambassador for Mind, Duke helps to champion the benefits that physical exercise can have in managing a mental health problem.

In 2011 Duke was awarded the MBE for his services to boxing.

To find out more about Mental Health Awareness Week see here https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week

To find out more about Duke McKenzie see here https://www.dukemckenziembe.co.uk/