Emotional support through empathetic and active listening

Through non-judgemental active listening and empathy, you can provide an important space for the person you are visiting to share their feelings. You can remind them that they are important and cared for. See more on active listening in Visiting Skills.

Building and maintaining trust are essential to any visitor relationship. When finding out more about someone’s circumstances, don’t diagnose but instead try to establish facts and use open-ended questions. We encourage you to be led by the person involved in what they feel comfortable sharing, reminding them of the parameters of your visitor groups confidentiality policy and under what circumstances you will need to tell someone else about the information they have discussed with you. Recognise the person's strength and resilience, as well as what protective factors and self-help strategies they have available to them.

One of the values of AVIDs members charter is “solidarity” and we are committed to standing alongside and acting in partnership with people in detention. Our priority as visitors is to support the individual in detention first and foremost, and their safety, dignity and consent must be put before any external priority. Any decisions to act should, wherever possible, be made in conjunction with the individual concerned and prioritise the individual’s own choices.

At times where someone’s mental health is suffering, you might discuss with them the option of increasing your level of contact and visits with the person in detention, depending on the boundaries you have set yourself and set by your group.