**This is not about getting someone to seek help, but about not coming across as a bad friend or like I'm minimizing their feelings by doing so.**

I'd like to think people see me as an open and empathetic person, and this is why my friends come to me when they need to talk about their problems and they do so often. However, there are some problems that arise that I either feel unequipped to handle, or am not emotionally fit to deal with. 

For example, a friend I know to have depression talking to me about those feelings, when I am definitely not a crisis counselor or a therapist. Or another talking to me about a bad break-up with a guy I didn't think she should date in the first place due to obvious red flags. Or a friend/relative complaining about a health issue that they refuse to go to the doctor for involving aspects of their health I don't feel comfortable talking about.

Ideally, I want to be able to tell these friends that their problems are better talked through with a therapist/psychologist/psychiatrist/doctor. But with one friend in particular this advice leads to other complaints such as financial problems, or that they don't have any other friends to talk to about it and they just want to feel supported. 

I want my friends to feel like they can talk to me, and I don't want to make them feel like their feelings aren't being validated, but I know my responses in these situations [can come across that way](https://interpersonal.stackexchange.com/a/8062/10328) (not my question, but the question mentions responses similar to what I've given in the past when I wanted to show I was listening or trying to be supportive, **particularly when I didn't want to offer advice on a subject** due to personal reasons. )

How can I set boundaries of not wanting to talk in depth about a friend's problems, without seeming like I don't *care* about those problems and the friend?