New Doula... Some Questions

My name is Stephanie and I am new to the board. I am thinking very hard about becomina a doula. I would like to ask a couple of questions to those of you who are doulas. I am going to take a workshop in Jan. 2006 through ALACE.

1. how long does it take to become a doula?

2. how do you get paid as a doula?

3. can anyone reccomend training in California?

Thank you all!! I have always wanted to become a doula and later on I want to become a Midwife.

Stephanie

[Tiffany]

Hi Stephanie!

I did my training through DONA in May 2002. After I took my training, I started taking on clients as a volunteer. I chose not to certify with any organization yet, but I am still a doula.

One of my clients gave me a small monetary gift, but the client I have coming up is my first paying client. I am debating whether or not I should register a business name and get a tax ID or just claim it as additional income... I will deal with that when I get to it early next year. I have only ever been paid in cash. I would accept personal check, money order and paypal payments though.

Don't know of any training in California specifically, you can check our Workshop Calendar though!

I hope we continue to hear from you while you are on your journey to becoming a doula!

[loveslabor]

It's beautiful_dreamer from Craigslist....I'm assuming you must have gotten my response to your inquiry. Welcome!

To answer your question-

If you mean how long does it take to be a 'certified' doula- it all depends on how long your approved training course is, how long it takes you to get your first clients, how fast you read, and how much money you can dish out for class and stuff....lol.

I'd think it is reasonable to get your certification in a year's time if you worked at a good pace.

Training is all over the place.....obviously, you found your ALACE training, but there are tons of other options out there. La Leche League meetings to learn about breastfeeding issues. You can take courses in homeopathy, massage, accupressure, hypnobirthing, waterbirth if you looks around the web and follow links from those pages, you will find lots of info that don't necessarily come up in a google search.

I'm studying to eventually be a midwife. I am taking Heart and Hands Intensives through Elizabeth Davis starting next month. http://www.birth-sex.com/heartandhands.html It is fairly extensive training including things like pelvimetry, injections and other medical aspects that are relavent to midwifery, but also lots of skills and information that will be good for being a doula.

Here is a small list of some of the websites I have found useful in my search:
http://www.californiamidwives.org/
http://www.icea.org/
http://www.midwiferytoday.com/magazine/
http://www.nationalmidwiferyinstitute.com/
http://www.cappa.net/
http://www.lalecheleague.org/
http://www.iblce.org/become.htm
http://www.dona.org/
http://www.birthlove.com/phpBB/index.php
http://www.doulasforteens.com/
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/doulavolunteers/
http://www.bellywomen.net/listings/index.php?clearoff=1
http://www.alldoulas.com/
http://www.childbirthinternational.com/
http://www.birthways.org/

--Amanda

[raspberrymoondoula]

1. want to be a doula? poof you're a doula :-)
2. tell your potential clients what your fees are, have a contract to protect yourself and them (i account for things such as if i get fired how much $$ do i retain, what happens if i dont make it to a birth, accounting for a backup doula, that sort of thing), and collect as appropriate
3. no but the above links are excellent resources all around. i'd also reccomend finding an experienced doula in your area you could shadow for a few births if you dont want to get certified right away (its not a requirement, some like to do it as a measure of reliability for thier clients). most of the doulas i know are wonderful, VERY experienced, and NOT certified, FWIW.

[Matrescence]

welcome to the group Stephanie

[tlcdoula]

1. how long does it take to become a doula? Like someone else mentioned - do you mean a certified doula? If you mean a certified doula that really depends on a lot of factors - who you are certifying through, whether you can get your training in a timely manner, how quickly you can find mamas to work with, and how much work goes into it. I was lucky because I finished everything within 8 months of starting, but technically I didn't take my first client until August and then was certified by December - it really all depends on you and how quickly you can get things done.

2. how do you get paid as a doula? When I get paid (I have done lots of volunteer work for teens) I have my client pay me half of the money at the contract signing nd the second half I collect at 38 weeks of pregnancy or right after the birth. I accept cash, checks, and now will accept credit cards.

3. can anyone reccomend training in California? Check our different certifying groups and see if they have anything opened.

[DL]

Stephanie!

It's nice to "meet" you!

First of all, I 'ditto' what the others have said. You DO NOT have to certify to be a doula. That's a matter of personal choice. It is my opinion that one should aquire some type of training first before calling oneself a doula (i.e. attending a training/workshop or distance learning, read required books of a certifying organization, and/or shadow an experienced doula). I'll just tell you my experience with certifiying through CAPPA. Your experience would vary depending upon the factors that the others have listed.

CAPPA gives two years to finish a certification starting from the time you purchase your certification packet (I hear extensions may possibly be given if they feel the situation deems it appropriate). Most are able to finish before that two year period is up. I purchased my cert. packet at my doula training in June 2003 and was able to submit all materials for cert. in Oct. 2004 (that's 1 yr, 4 months to submit). My cert. was official Dec. 2004 (delay because of holidays). I purposely started my required reading for cert. the Feb. before attending my training; I was able to finish required reading just before attending, and that was a BIG HELP both time-wise and for having some knowledge base for the training! My three required evaluation births were spaced out pretty far from each other; if not for that, I could've finished up sooner.

Hope that helps some! Again, welcome to the group!

[DL]

Forgot your other questions!

"How do you get paid as a doula?"

I'm working independently so get paid by my clients. If you are working for yourself, you can set your own fees. Browse other doulas websites and check out the fees of doulas in your area to use as a guage (sp?) of where you might want to start. Other doulas may work for a hospital program (like Michelle "tlcdoula"), or for a midwifery practice and get paid by them. Who pays you just depends on if you are running an independent business or are employeed by another hospital, practice, or group (i.e. doula group).


"Can you recommend a training in California?"

Not right off hand.... Tiffany also has a Workshop Calendar on this site you can check.

If you want to train through ALACE, you can also do a Internet search for them (think it's www.alace.org, but I'm not positive on the "org"...could be net or com) to find out where/when their trainings are held. The same goes for the other groups: www.cappa.net and www.dona.org.

[loveslabor]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl...8/LV112043.DTL

I am sooo excited about getting started!!! Thank you ladies for all the info! I am glad to be here!

Stephanie