Mothers’ Love and Worry Led to Legal Mentorship Program Idea

This is one in a series of personal employee stories titled “In Their Words.” The stories focus on safety, diversity, operations, mental health and community, among other topics, as we strive to give you a glimpse inside Enbridge Gas.

In Their Words: Stephanie Lovering

Two years ago, I dropped my son off in kindergarten for the first time. He cried and screamed and had a hard time adjusting. I completely understood; it’s such a big transition with new people, places, rules, routines, and expectations. But while I knew he would be alright and find his way, I walked into work that day feeling a lot heavier with him on my mind.

As a parent, you feel helpless during the first few days of school. You try your best to prepare your children, to buy all the lunch boxes, school supplies and things that they need to succeed in school. You try your best to prepare them emotionally to interact with other people, to resolve conflict, to be kind and not tolerate bullying. However, once you drop them off and wave good-bye, there’s very little you can do as a parent to help them during the day and the responsibility of care is passed to other adults while you keep faith that they’re feeling supported.

When I came to the Enbridge office I shared my experience with my coworker Luanda, who has an innate sense for detecting the feelings of others. She empathized deeply because as my son was entering kindergarten, Luanda’s daughter was entering law school, both pretty major firsts in the lives of our children.

It was through these swirled feelings of love and worry as moms, that we came up with the idea for Enbridge’s Legal Mentorship Program.

‘A village of support’

The mentorship program is an initiative that connects first-year law students with Enbridge lawyers and other first-year students in the area. The goal of the program is to help students succeed in one of their hardest educational transitions: first year of law school.

We’ve heard from many successful lawyers at Enbridge and elsewhere that they felt like dropping out, especially at the beginning of law school. We believed that we had the opportunity here to help with that transition.

We offer support and assurance to students, especially students who don’t have legal support systems in their contacts, with the skills, network, and resources that we have at Enbridge.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I dropped off my son off at school again. Luanda and I met at the office, she looked at me nervously, and asked how it went. My son, now in Grade 1 one, walked in without tears, and Luanda’s daughter is thriving in her last year of law school.

The care that we poured into the development of this program not only made for a successful first year for our 15 inaugural law students, but it also gave us the confidence to help better guide our own children through their firsts with a village of support.

We can’t wait to welcome the next group of first-year law students into the program this October. And we’re thrilled to share that this year – Year 2 of the program – has been expanded to Alberta and Texas.

I believe that it’s our role as adults to support students, young professionals and even other adults navigate difficult life transitions, whether it’s law school, kindergarten, or anything else. And this program, is one way as a company, and as a collective, we can make that transition easier.

Check out this site for more information on the mentorship program and to apply: https://www.enbridge.com/Work-with-Enbridge/Careers/Canadian-Legal-Mentorship-Program.