Any doulas around to help a possible newbie trainee?

[Davinaaddict]

Apologies if I'm not posting in the right place - I've also posted in childbirth but there doesn't seem to be much traffic there. I'm hoping for some advice on becoming a doula.

It's looking really likely I'll be made redundant in the next few months, so I'm considering retraining to become a doula. I'm currently in an office job, that I sort of fell into in my early 20's and then got stuck in the routine of, so it would be quite a change for me. The redundancy has gicen me a real kick to think about what I WANT to do rather than what I cam do.

I'm also the main breadwinner in the household at the moment, so I need to be really sure that I'm making the right choice for my family, as well as for me personally.

I would love to do something much more people/community based, and since having my 2 DC's, I've changed a lot, and it's opened my eyes to so muh more - ok, somewhat cheesy, but I'm sure you get the point!

I was wondering if there are any doulas here that would be willing to share their experiences and knowledge with me to help me decide if it's something I could/should seriously consider. Being completely upfront, at the moment income is my main concern, with childcare coming up second.

I've been doing some research and google informs me that the average earnings of a doula in the UK are around £31k. If that was an accurate figure, then that would be great! So the questions I have around this now would be:

1. Does this sound about right, or is it inflated?
2. Would I have to work a 70 hour week to get there?
3. How long would it typically take to work up to that level - I don't expect that to be the entry level income.
4. Is it possible to fit around a part time job at any stage?

How do you manage childcare (I've a 3 & a 1 yo)? The on call bit worries me somewhat, especially as both my children decided that they were going to make an appearance as soon as I got into bed for the night! Whilst nights would be ok, as my DH would be there, I would worry about the day time call ups, especially when school is involved.

I totally understand that this type of job is not about the money, and actually that's the reason I'm looking at this career now. But, I still need to maintain a roof over our heads, which might mean that I can't consider the change at this time.

I've had a look locally and there seem to be a few in my area (West Yorkshire) - I think 12 in a 30 mile radius. Would it be breaking some unwritten etiquette for me to contact a local doula and invite her for a coffee to ask her some questions? I'm conscious that I would become competition for her business, and I really wouldn't want to offend!

Any help would be very gratefully received! And thats's really long, so thanks for reading so far!

Hello, I'm a doula - it's lovely!

But nope, I can't imagine any doula in the UK earns anywhere near that amount of money from doulaing - possibly if they have other, well-paid, flexible businesses/work they can do at the same time.

To give you an idea in London an very experienced doula might charge between £800 and £1000 - much less outside of London. Bear in mind that you need to have holidays and can't be on call 52 weeks out of the year. You don't overlap your clients very often (and if you do you'll need to pay a back-up). Someone who only took 6 weeks off call over the whole year and charged £1000 per birth would only earn £11,500 - and most doulas earn much less than that. No-one is in it for the money!

Best way to find out whether being a doula is right for you is to go on one of Doula UK's introductory workshops. More info on those and becoming a doula here: doula.org.uk/content/becoming-doula

Would strongly recommend doing a Doula UK approved course and then doing their mentoring programme to become a recognised doula.

p.s. if you want to have a part-time job you need to be sure you can leave it at short notice is someone goes in to labour or work with another doula who can cover you during those hours. Stuff that works well with doulaing is freelance work that can be done any time at home and doesn't have specific hours.

Sorry, I'm not a doula but my friend is.

She's told me before that her main income is from holding group hypnobirthing, pre and postnatal classes and other additional services like placenta encapsulation, aside from income from being a doula.

Thanks very much for the info - I suspected that would be the case, which means it has to be ruled out for me now Maybe when I win that lottery, and then I can do it on a voluntary basis!

I was planning on going to the October introductory course, although I'm not sure it would be worth me doing so now, as if I do want to do it, it will be a long time before I can afford to do so, at which point I'll need to refresh my knowledge anyway.

I think I'll have a think about how I could fit it into my life, and start looking at building some freelance skills and a business in addition to my office work now, so it can be something I could do long term. Thanks again!

Cross post Bunnylion More things to consider adding to the pot, thank you!

carcassonne - would you object to someone local contacting you for more info on becoming a doula? The one I've seen locally has an amazing website, and I'd like to have a face to face chat with her to see how business is in this area, etc. I'm worried about either offending by asking or possibly not getting the whole story