It's one thing to talk about the idea of attachment as being a cause of suffering, it's another to experience the suffering brought on by attachment. While the obvious solution is simply to cut off that attachment, it's never quite that easy, is it? The pain she feels is understandable, and while it's not fun at all, she has been offered a great opportunity to understand suffering and the causes of suffering.
Our first instinct in the face of pain is to find an immediate solution to that pain. This is aversion. We know that pain is not so easily remedied, so we need to deal with it in another way. Rather than trying to move away from the pain, it is often taught in the Lam Rim to try to move closer to the pain. To get to know it better. To understand it, to become comfortable with it.
Through this, one develops great compassion for all beings who suffer in that way. Out of this compassion arises the motivation to practice the dharma.
As for what you can do, you are already doing quite a bit by listening to her, by being supportive and trying to help. In this difficult time, she will need that sort of kindness.
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