I became a Grief Coach as a direct result of experiencing my own losses. The trigger was the death of two very close and dear family members within months of each other, but upon learning more about grief I realized how my chaotic childhood had left me carrying around alot of unresolved grief...and when I caught a glimpse of what life could be like without that added weight and burden, I determined to not only resolve my own grief, but to get certified so I could share this gift with others, too. Luckily, this was also a fulfilment of a life-long interest in helping people, specifically in the area of emotional and mental wellness - I had long wished I'd chosen psychology as a career, having been a natural confidant and advisor since the playground. Two things that are essential to my work are areas that we all probaby think come naturally to us, but in reality can benefit from lots of training and practice: listening, and questioning. I probably spend 85-90% of my time with clients offering very deep listening, which has required me to become more and more comfortable in the presence of other peoples' strong emotions. And a very specific focus of my training as a coach has been to become better and better at crafting questions that both prompt people to reflect, and create space in which they can answer authentically, often discoverying their own truths in the process. Contrary to what you might imagine, the big skill there is in simplifying one's questions, rather than getting better at crafting impressively complex ones!