Being understanding towards them? Useless! (10)
I believe the answer is:
empathetic
'being understanding' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'them? useless' is the wordplay.
'useless' becomes 'pathetic' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'em'+'pathetic'='EMPATHETIC'
'towards' is the link.
This may not be correct. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for empathetic that I've seen before include "Appreciating another's feelings" , "Understanding" .)