I suppose other professions have an ear tuned in certain ways as well. I m sure I miss more messages than I notice. Nevertheless, there is a continual listening between the lines. Most of it is not counseling material. But some of it is.
People are often more direct and honest by e-mail than by personal contact.
People I would never hear from otherwise have reached out by finger-touch on their computers. In counseling one has the luxury of eye contact, body language, and voice inflection. In addition there is often time to allow an individual to get the whole story out, to listen through. In e-mail one gets a fragment without the detail. When response is made it has to be more intuitive than informed.