SPEAKING up for yourself is not easy, and at one time or another everyone needs help to put across their case.

Until now finding help has not been easy either, but this week in Burnley and Pendle there has been an attempt to change that.

The organisers called the idea Advocacy Awareness Week - an all-embracing title to say no-one need be on their own.

Teams of workers have been out and about in town centres to let people know about the work of the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale short term advocacy project.

Today, Thursday, they are in the libraries at Colne and Barnoldswick and in the Arndale Centre, Nelson. Tomorrow they will be in the Mall at Burnley.

The events have been co-ordinated through the Lancashire Advocacy Development and Support Service.

Said organiser Sue Becker: "For many people, advocacy is a word which either means nothing at all, or may have legal connotations.

"It's about people speaking up for themselves and getting their message heard.

"Not everybody finds it easy, for many different reasons: they may be older, have a lot of stress in their lives, they might not know what to say, or know where to get information or what their choices are, or they could have mental health problems or be disabled in some way.

"Advocacy is a way of helping people get their views heard, whether it is via groupwork, people helping each other or through volunteers.

"There are many different ways in which it can work, and it really does make a difference to people's lives."

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