A detailed checklist for becoming a doula

You're interested in becoming a doula? That's awesome. I became a doula in 2008 at 20 years old. It's a beautiful career. It can be a hard business. One thing I would advise aspiring doulas is to take time preparing for the launch of a small business rather than just doing a doula training as quickly as possible and not knowing what to do next. Do some planning before you jump in. Read this blog to get started on your path. What makes you want to be a doula?

• Take some time to reflect on why you want to become a doula and what your goals are as a future doula. Birth-work is sacred. Those who support and care for birthing women have an impact on one of the most important days of her life. Learn about the benefits of doulas here.
  
• Get familiar with what a doula is, what they do, and what they don’t do. It’s important to understand their purpose and scope of practice. Here is a blog on what I actually do as a doula.
  
• Interview some doulas before you start this path. See what the job is really like. Shadow some doulas if you can.
• Know the on-call requirements of birth work and what you are able to do in this season of your life. Can you be on call and be able to leave your house within an hour of being called? How many hours can you be gone at a time? It’s not uncommon for doulas to utilize 12 hour language in their contract. If that’s what you need to do to be able to run your business, then do it. What are your plans for child care and pet care if you are called to a birth? You will need round-the-clock child care available at any hour without knowing how long you will be gone. This can be expensive. You will also need appropriate pet care. What are your financial needs right now? This is a small business. It takes a lot of careful planning.
• Before you begin doula training, consider reading childbirth books and taking online childbirth classes for the parents especially if you have not had children of your own yet. Establish a foundation of basic knowledge before you become a professional people seek education from. 
• Educate yourself from appropriate resources as much as you can. Be on guard for misinformation, sales pushing products, and extreme views in the world of birth. Look for credentials, education, citation, and logic. Balance your views especially when it comes to interventions. 
• While you are prepping for becoming a student doula, I would recommend storing up as much savings as you can because it can take a while for a steady flow of clients to come. Once you are on contract to attend births, it's very hard to have a regular job. You have to be on call and able to leave your "day job". You don't want to be in the situation of being fired because you had to leave or call off. Having a few months of your expenses in your savings can buy you more time to get clients.
• Choose your training program. While training is optional, it is recommended. Click here for a directory of training programs.
• Decide if you are going to pursue certification.
• Attend a doula workshop or complete on online training program.
• Decide if you want to be a for-profit business, a non-profit only charging at cost (or a little bit above), have a ministry where you serve those in need for free as you are able (donations accepted), or just want to do a doula training to be there as a support person for family and friends (not creating an actual business). All of the above are okay. Plan accordingly. The heart to serve is the same. Some women doing this work can do it on a sliding scale for those who can't afford full price. Other women doing this are "financially underprivileged" themselves and need to earn fair wages. Please label your business clearly if it is a not-for-profit or a ministry.
• Decide on a business name. This one can take a while. Brainstorm. Consider if you will only do doula work or if you will expand to offer other things. Some put their location in the business name for SEO.
• Form your business (sole proprietor or LLC)
• Decide how many births you want to take a month. 4 is generally considered full-time. If you do other work or don't want to be on call that much, 1 or 2 a month is also an option. Some doulas only do a few births a year. Others take 6 to 8 (often working with a business partner). Start out at a comfortable pace. There may also be certain times of the year you don't want any due dates (holidays, vacation, personal time).
• Decide on your prices after looking at your expenses and what your household's financial needs are from this income. What is your minimum income requirement from this job? Doulas often charge minimally when they are new and raise their prices over time. Doulas with degrees, multiple credentials, and more experience often charge higher rates.
• Create your marketing plan. Click here for a comprehensive blog on over 50 ways to market your doula business.
• Make your website. Click here for a blog on what to have on your doula website. You can do this yourself or hire a website designer. 
• Optional: Have fun with a professional photo shoot to get fresh photos of you for your website and social media.
• Optional: Create a logo or hire a designer to create a logo for your company.
• Optional: Some professionals have theme colors they often use. A tip for that is to use hex codes for colors that are not standard.
• Start social media for your business. Facebook and Instagram are what I recommend focusing on. Birth is quite popular on Instagram, but Facebook will give you a better chance of connecting with women who are local to you.
• Buy business cards and initial promotional products.
• Start marketing your services. Introduce yourself to the community as a new doula.
• Address your obstacles and make a plan for how to prevent or manage each obstacle. I talk in depth about that here.
• Create your plan for your consults, prenatal appointments, and postpartum appointments. How many appointments do you want to do? Are you going to offer multiple packages or a la carte options? The standard is 2 prenatals and 1 postpartum appointment. I personally prefer to do more. However, the more appointments you do with each client the more time it will take and may interfere with the amount of births you want each month.
• Get all your paperwork in order: pre-consultation questionnaire, consult form, contract (very necessary), intake paperwork, schedule and curriculum for prenatal appointments, postpartum appointment chart, feedback and evaluation form, etc… You don't have to have all your ducks in a perfect row before getting started, but you also don't want to get that first consultation scheduled and have no idea what you need when you're supposed to meet in a few days. Get these things drafted before you open up for clients. You can also purchase some of these things from more seasoned doulas. 
• Create your birth support plan. These are notes for you personally on the ways that you can support clients in different experiences: vaginal birth both un-medicated and with an epidural, during a c-section, through a stillbirth or infant death, through complications, etc… You will learn as you go. A lot of new doulas get nervous. Sometimes we go blank when we are nervous. It's helpful to have notes for ourselves. 
• Buy all your doula bag supplies. It’s okay to start with a minimal amount and invest the money after you have been paid by clients. I would start with a rebozo, wooden combs, hand fans, and simple things.
• Purchase your teaching tools. Again, do what you can within your budget. You don't have to have every nifty teaching tool from the beginning. We all start out slow. Eventually, you will get dilation models and a model pelvis and models to help teach about breastfeeding etc.
• Optional: Order a curriculum for childbirth education. While some of us write our own curriculum, there is the option of purchasing a curriculum you can teach.
• List out your resources for information for yourself and for clients. You'll want to get to know where the hospitals and birthing centers are in your service area, most recommended practices, other professionals, postpartum support, breastfeeding support, etc. 
• You may want to start building a resource binder for clients. This will grow over time. Start basic. You'll spend your entire career adding new things to this.
• Find clients. It will be slow at first. Some student doulas offer their services for free while they are pursuing certification. Others do a discount. Do whatever you need to do to keep going this path.
• If needed, buy what you are going to wear to the births. Your outfits, shoes (that you can be on your feet for a long time in), your name badge, gloves (bodily fluids that aren’t yours = wear gloves), etc… I pack an overnight duffel bag for myself with a spare change of clothes, deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste, pads, lotion, and stuff to clean my glasses.
• Some training programs require you to doula several births before achieving certification. Other programs give certification before experience is acquired. 
• If you are pursuing certification, complete all the certification requirements for your chosen training program.
• Earn your certificate!
• Find at least one back up doula. Several is ideal.
• Network with other birth workers. Get in the birth community.
• Continue to market your business.

 
Begin your journey.
There is a strong learning curve.
Things will be trial and error. You’ll make adjustments along the way.
You’ll grow.
Go doula.
 

Continuing education

• Get certified in first aid and basic lifesaver support. I recommend The American Heart Association or Red Cross. 
• Always seek continuing education.
• Lactation support is part of being a doula. I recommend you seek credentialing in breastfeeding support. You certainly don't need to do all that at the same time as your doula training. Take it one step at a time. At some point in your birth-work journey, it would benefit the women you help if you pursued professional lactation support training. Click here to learn about the different types of lactation professionals, click here to view a directory of lactation training programs, and click here to learn how to become a lactation consultant (IBCLC).
• Some other training ideas are
  • Childbirth educator
  • Bereavement doula training for miscarriage, stillbirth, and newborn loss
  • Rebozo training
  • Spinning Babies training
  • Body Ready Method 
  • Postpartum doula training
  • Child passenger safety tech (car seat safety) could be a training that may make you more marketable 
  • fitness instructor training with a focus on prenatal or postpartum fitness
• If you are able to take college classes, here are 12 that would be helpful.
  • A communications class - so much of how we support people well is in the way we communicate with them and the words we choose
  • Psychology - everyone in healthcare should have this basic foundation
  • Abnormal psychology - this can be helpful as you will have clients who struggle with mental health issues
  • An introduction to addictive illness - drug addiction is a huge issue in America
  • Any classes on counseling skills are super helpful to doula work
  • General biology - this is a necessary foundation
  • Medical terminology - this class can help doulas gain a better understanding of medical "jargon" that may be new to them
  • Basic anatomy and physiology - this really gives a deeper understanding of how the body works and that is relevant to how birth works
  • Pathophysiology isn't needed for a support person, but understanding disease processes and learning the pathophysiology of problems you will support as a doula can be insightful.
  • Pharmacology certainly isn’t necessary for doulas, but it’s good to know how these things work
  • Clinical nutrition - there are so many myths and so much misinformation surrounding nutrition and diets
  • A nurse’s aide class is helpful for those basic bedside skills  

You don't need a degree to be a doula. Higher education is always helpful though. 10 years after I became a doula, I graduated college with a degree in health sciences. I find my degree to be extremely helpful to doula work. I have such a better understanding of how the body works now, and also a better understanding of the healthcare system. If you have the opportunity to take these college classes (even if it's just one a semester), you will grow your understanding too. 


Note: Some organizations offer permanent certification while others require renewal every year or two or three years. Know how your training organization does this. Keep up on your requirements.
 
 
Best wishes to you on your journey in being a birth worker.