I have never been in the situation I am right now. I do not know how to approach my mortgage company to see about skipping a payment or making interest only payments. How should such a conversation be done

Do not under any circumstances "skip" a mortgage payment if you have absolutely any way around it. Borrow money from a friend if you have to, but do not "skip," that payment. That is the number one worst thing you can do to your credit other than BK and it might even be worst than that. If you have equity, refinance AFTER you borrow money from your friend to pay that mortgage payment; you can pay your friend back out of that. THEN, you can ask your mortgage guy to pick a loan program that has a interest-only option, so you can make those payments until you get whatever situation you're going through taken care of. Hope that helps; please don't miss that mortgage payment.

You may just want to talk to them, esp if you have been good with all your payments, normally they have procdures for interest only payment
( but if on a new mortgage, most is interest anyway)

And some lenders actually do have a program to allow you to miss one payment ( once) but others will not.

If you just can't pay , it is better to call and talk to them, then not doing anything, but if you can pay somehow, pay

The more honest you are with ANY creditor, the more leeway they are apt to give you. I know, no matter how bad my financial situation was, my mortgage payments always came first.

But approach your lender, explain the circumstance and ask what your options are.

Ooh no!
Do not skip a mortgage payment, it reflects on your credit report and harms your mortgage rating!
This will hurt you when you decide to refinance, your rate will be higher for that LATE payment. I have been in the business for years, I would tell you to please do anything you can to maintain a good payment history with your mortgage company.
I hope this helps.
If you are short on money maybe you can use equity left on the house to take out a HELOC and pay some debt off?

Many mortgages here in Canada allow you to "skip" a mortgage payment once per year, as part of the mortgage contract. If this is done and this is the mortgage you have there are no penalities to your credit, but you would have to contact the bank to do so. It is not recommended to do this annually, but it is a good option in unexpected events occur. Talk to your bank.