What can I do to make my cousin happy, or should I just ignore him?

I’m going to go visit my mother’s parents at another town in two weeks and I will stay for 5 days. One of mom’s sisters has a son who has recently came to work in that town. He used to be my close friend as a child, but I’m not so sure about that now. Words are passed around that he is “depressed” because he can’t graduate from college. Also there is talk that he is looking for something to cheer himself up. Mom is saying that it’s best that I talk to him, because I’m the only one in the family at his age range, and because I would probably have nothing else to do there, with the rest of the family busy sorting things out (mom is paying a visit because there is some family issue going on between the adults).

So should I take the chance? I have been reading into a lot of psychology stuff and I have given advice to a friend before, and beside we used to have a history together. But I’m not sure if I can talk things out with him, or even if it’s worth the effort.