If you’ve worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) and are considering becoming a doula, you may already have skills that can help you make the transition. It might be an easier path than you think to become a doula as a CNA.
CNAs and doulas have very different roles, but both spend a lot of time supporting people during vulnerable moments. As a CNA, you’ve likely learned how to communicate with people who are uncomfortable or anxious. You know how to protect someone’s dignity, work alongside healthcare providers, and remain calm when things do not go according to plan.
That experience can provide a great foundation for doula work.
Why CNA Experience Can Translate Well to Doula Work
CNAs often spend a significant amount of time providing direct support to patients. That experience teaches you something that can be difficult to learn from a textbook: the small things matter.
Helping someone get comfortable matters. Listening matters. Explaining what is happening matters. Protecting privacy matters. Recognizing that someone may be frightened even when they are not saying it out loud matters.
Those same skills are valuable in doula work.
Birth and postpartum doulas provide physical, emotional, and informational support. Being comfortable supporting people during vulnerable moments can give a CNA a strong starting point.
Moving From CNA to Birth Doula
Birth doulas support families during pregnancy, labor, birth, and the immediate postpartum period. You are on-call to provide continuous support during the labor and birth.
During pregnancy, doulas may help clients learn about their options, prepare questions for their providers, practice comfort techniques, and think through their birth preferences.
During labor, support may include position changes, massage, counter pressure, movement, relaxation techniques, emotional reassurance, and helping partners become involved in the birth experience.
If you’ve worked as a CNA, you may already feel comfortable in a hospital environment. However, becoming a doula means learning to work within that environment in a very different role.
Understanding Your New Scope
This is one of the most important parts of transitioning from CNA to doula.
Doulas are non-medical support people.
A doula does not diagnose conditions, perform clinical assessments, interpret medical findings, recommend treatment, or make medical decisions for a client.
Even if you have been trained to perform certain clinical tasks as a CNA, you are not functioning as the client’s CNA when you have been hired as their doula.
Your healthcare experience is still valuable. You may already understand hospital routines, patient privacy, infection prevention, communication, and how healthcare teams function. You may also be comfortable around medical equipment, bodily fluids, and people experiencing pain.
The difference is that your role as a doula is focused on continuous support for the birthing person and their family.
Moving From CNA to Postpartum Doula
Postpartum doula work may feel like another natural direction for CNAs who enjoy providing direct support to individuals and families.
The weeks after birth can be physically and emotionally demanding. Parents are learning how to care for a new baby while also recovering from birth and adjusting to a major life change.
Postpartum doula support may include:
- newborn care education
- feeding support within the doula’s scope
- helping parents understand infant cues
- encouraging rest
- preparing simple meals
- assisting with light household tasks
- supporting siblings
- providing emotional support.
The goal is not to take over care of the baby. A postpartum doula supports parents as they learn, recover, adjust, and become more confident caring for their new baby.
Birth Doula, Postpartum Doula, or Both?
You do not necessarily have to choose.
Birth doula work usually includes being on call. Labor can begin at any hour and may last much longer than expected.
Postpartum doula work is generally more predictable. Visits can often be scheduled ahead of time, with doulas offering daytime, evening, or overnight support depending on their services.
Some doulas love the unpredictability and intensity of birth work. Others prefer the relationships that develop through postpartum support. Many choose to do both.
Offering both can also allow you to support a family during pregnancy and birth and then continue that relationship after their baby arrives.
Can You Transition From CNA to Full Time Doula Work?
Yes. Some doulas make doula work their primary focus, while others continue working in healthcare as they gradually build their doula services.
You may begin your doula education while continuing to work as a CNA. As you gain experience and begin working with clients, you can decide what type of schedule works best for you.
Some doulas primarily attend births. Others focus on postpartum support. Some combine birth and postpartum doula services with childbirth education, breastfeeding counseling, or other areas in which they have received more training in.
There is no single way to structure your doula work.
Build on the Experience You Already Have
Changing directions does not mean starting from zero.
As a CNA, you’ve likely already supported people when they were uncomfortable, exhausted, frustrated, vulnerable, or afraid. You understand how important dignity, communication, patience, and compassion can be.
Doula education allows you to build on those skills while learning a new scope and a new way of supporting families.
For some CNAs, becoming a doula is not really about leaving caregiving behind. It is about expanding how and when you are able to support people.
Interested in making the transition from CNA to doula? Explore the International Doula Institute’s Birth Doula Certification and Postpartum Doula Certification programs to learn more about getting started.
Author: Aliza Juliette Bancoff
Aliza Juliette Bancoff is a well-known doula and doula trainer who has been providing doula services to families for over a decade. She is the founder of Main Line Doulas, a doula group providing doula support in the great Philadelphia area for the last decade, the International Doula Institute, which provides online doula training and lactation training and certification programs and the International Breastfeeding Institute which provides lactation training and certification. She is the co-founder of United Birth, a company devoted to increasing access to doulas across the country to make the perinatal time safer both physically and emotionally. “Every birthing person deserves access to quality doula support. And we are working to make that a reality across the country. The work we are doing to get doulas to every birthing person will decrease the black infant and maternal mortality rate significantly by 2030.” Says Bancoff. Aliza is known for her compassionate and empowering approach to doula work, and she has been featured in numerous media outlets, including United Nations Maternal Health Report, Parent Magazine, CafeMom, theBump and many more. Aliza's journey into doula work began when she gave birth to her first child and felt a strong calling...