You can become someone who your younger relatives can seek advice from and be open too. You’ll feel needed and can help someone through a tough time.
Feeling trusted and that you give people the courage to confide in you, you’ll be doing something that not many people get to do.
Use this power responsibly and with grace. It's easy to become too harsh when giving advice or too layed back when around youngsters.
Be humble and mind what you say and you'll make a good role model.
Being secretive is also key, if someone confides in you, treat it like a proffessional, you must have some 'friend-friend' confidentiality. On more serius issues you can make exceptions, but for the most part be trustworthy and know how to keep something private.
Don’t judge your family member too harshly, we are human and they made a mistake, so don’t dwell on their wrong doing.
Life may no longer be the same for the person in question or for you, but you should still look to move on as it can’t be undone, but all hope isn’t lost.
Let your feelings out. Grieve or do whatever you have to do to not keep your feelings bottled up inside, let them out and let the healing process run its course, lean on a close friend or relative’s shoulder who you trust, they may be able to help you deal with this situation.
Speak with prison counselors. They might be able to shed light on any mental illness your loved one might be suffering from.
Visit your loved one. Talk to them like you’ve always done, and try and stay relaxed.
Tips
Avoid asking ‘how are you’, it’s prison, ask something along the lines of ‘how are you doing’.
It can be sad to see a loved one locked up, but if it was their mistake, avoid feeling grief for someone else’s crime.
When stepping into a prison, don’t confide too much in the guards, it’s still full of inmates at an average of 50 inmates per 1 guard.