CALLING all Citizen readers - dig deep and help us raise cash for young trauma victims.

Your priceless weekly is answering a call from Blackpool's Child Psychology Department to help provide a computer system through which young clients can communicate their feelings.

For just £3,000 the department will be able to buy the Computer Assisted Interview for Children (CAIC) programme as well as a lap-top computer to allow psychologists to take the system into clinics around the region.

And we need you to come up with fundraising schemes to get the cash flowing.

CAIC will be used to help children with a variety of problems including behavioural and sleep problems, phobias and emotional difficulties following a parent's divorce or bereavement.

It will give therapists a better idea of what the children are thinking and feeling through the use of various fun games, and psychologist Liz Kirkland feels it is an invaluable tool.

She explained: "Even when young children are prepared to tell you how they feel they do not always have the vocabulary to express themselves.

"This is made easier through the use of word and picture games and a computer is something youngsters can identify with very quickly."

Assistant psychologist Emma Munks added: "CAIC will make the assessment more informal and it will help us pick up on things which we might miss in a one-to-one interview.

"For instance, it records response times to questions and if there is a delay it often means the child feels uncomfortable talking about the subject.

"We might not always notice this during an interview but with the computer programme we have can keep it on file."

At present, psychologists use a variety of games and toys for their assessments which can be difficult to transport around the various clinics which they visit.

The CAIC is completely portable meaning it can be taken anywhere and as it has a number of language options, even sign language, it can be used by youngsters from various backgrounds.

If you want to help out, tell us about your fundraising ideas. Alternatively, donations can be made payable to: Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde Community Health Service NHS Trust Charitable Fund.

They should be made by bank giro to: National Westminster Bank plc, 35 Fishergate, Preston, account number 99685019, sort code 01-67-14.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.