I think advice is tricky territory. Even a good psychologist won't give advice. And by "advice," I'm going with the standard meaning, which is essentially telling others what you think is best for them.

Good therapists will ask the right questions and give information to help expand your awareness and they guide you toward figuring out your own answers.

You're absolutely right about people not always spotting the real problem. And sometimes they aren't ready to hear what it is. But they can be gently guided toward thinking about that if you ask the right questions and nudge them in that direction.

Sometimes people aren't ready to hear what others can see and it can be detrimental to their mental health. Sometimes all they need is to be heard. They don't want someone to fix it; they just want to know that what they're feeling is normal.

Sometimes they're so immersed in pain, they can't see the forest for the trees.

And sometimes we can inadvertently project our own "stuff" onto them and we think we know what the problem is, but it's really our own problem and not theirs at all. But we colour everything with that filter. This can do more harm than good.

The more we've worked through our own stuff and have learned various tools and insights that help, the more we can gently share them when we're able to determine if someone is ready to hear them.

Wandering through another person's mental and emotional health is like walking through a field of land mines. Dangerous unless you know what you're doing.

Being a great listener is wonderful. Asking questions to help someone figure out what they need and how they feel is great. Offering a variety of ideas and "maybe you coulds" can be exactly what's needed, as long as your goal is to help a person become more self-aware, or find more clarity, or unless you have specific experience about a certain issue they're having.

You're excellent at offering support and wanting to help people, Jimmy. And you're right, you can't fix someone's bigger problems (or even their smaller ones!). They have to fix everything for themselves but you can certainly help them navigate their way to the answers that work best for them, and definitely, helping them improve their awareness is in that bag of tricks :)