Jen-D
Hi
It is hard to detect issue if you are using very old version as there are many fixes has been added in the UI and core after version 4.3 incuding the Inbox part has been changes , pages features, follow feature and more.
I suggest you to upgrade Jomsocial to latest version first as this is is required so you have to new version.
make sure you need to use Jomsocial 4.5 version first here you can see upgrade steps and the Compatible Joomla version for Jomsocial https://www.jomsocial.com/blog
https://documentation.jomsocial.com/wiki/Joomla_Versions_Compatibility
Jomsocial has ACL function in Configurations > ACL for different user groups.
Let me know if there is same issue on your staging website.
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