Do not make someone retell the whole difficulty each time they ask for practical help.

Every retelling of a hard situation costs something, and the cost lands on the person who is already carrying it. When each request for help comes with an expectation of the full background, people start rationing what they ask for, choosing the tasks that need the least explanation and going without the rest. The story is not payment.

If someone has told you once, remember enough that they do not have to begin again. Ask what would help today rather than how everything is going. Save the wider conversation for a moment they choose.