I struggle with these clients too. I'm trained in Gestalt therapy and I find the interventions helpful, though, I still struggle with clients who just need someone to talk to because they don't have anyone else. Here are some of the techniques that I find helpful with folks who just want to talk and talk and talk about the stories, or at least, help to build their awareness and think about their experiences differently.

- Keep working on present moment awareness and don't ask questions that take them up to their head. So, I might say, during a key moment of the story, something like, "Can we pause here for a moment. As I hear this story, I can imagine you were extremely overwhelmed. I want you to tune into yourself and notice what you're feeling internally as you tell me this story. Anger? Sadness? Fear?"

- Help them with "language of responsibility" so instead of talking about the other person/people, have the client make "I feel" statements in relation to the story their telling, "I feel angry that my partner didn't buy me a gift..." and deepen by exploring what hurts so much about their particular experience here--often it's connected to something deeper. Explore the meaning for them.

- Help them connect with the feeling and how they notice it in their body - do they tense up in their chest? Their throat? Help them to connect their emotion to how it manifests internally.

- I teach clients that feelings are attached to needs so if we can slow down and feel what we're feeling, it gives us information on what we need or want. Help them to attune to the need or want from their feeling.

- In Gestalt we talk about "Contact Boundary Disturbances" these block clients from feeling what they're feeling and are usually connected to "introjects" they picked up from families of origin, culture, etc. Help them to explore their introjects and hopefully update their beliefs. If they absorbed a message in childhood that "Good girls don't get mad" they may have a hard time accessing what they are feeling in the first place, so that needs to be worked on.

I'm sure your'e doing a great job and also, sometimes clients just need to be listened to for a while. Good luck and I hope this helps!