Mostly I just let people sound off - it makes it more coherent for them if they can get their thoughts out into the open one way or another. I don't advise unless asked - even then I have to go over their messages to make sure I'm not missing anything important. You can get people who rant about a boyfriend or girlfriend for ages then mention something else almost at random and that's the issue that bothers them, not their other half. You can easily waste hours talking about the obvious stuff when really they need the hidden things discussed...