While many doulas get into this work as they become older and are parents themselves, others have a passion for birth work early on. Can you be a doula as a college student? In short, absolutely!

However, the long answer is a bit more complicated and can depend on many factors. It is absolutely possible to be a doula as a college student. There are many variables involved on how, who it works for, and why it works for some and not others.

How Can I Be A Doula As A College Student?

Many college students have unusual schedules compared to high school or working a 9-5 type job. They may have classes only on certain days. Some do asynchronous online schooling. Others have a combination of asynchronous and synchronous education.

Most students also take off on summers, may have long spring and winter breaks as well.

A college student’s course load, schedule, and other factors will influence whether they can balance life as an on-call doula.

Some students will take a certain number of families due during the summer months. This allows them to work a flexible schedule as a doula while supplementing their income.

There are also students with flexible class schedules and loads who take one to a few clients per month. If you are a premed student, it is unlikely your course load will allow for this type of work given specific hours needed in labs.

However, some majors have a lot of flexibility where missing the occasional in-person class will not have a detrimental effect on their grades.

Can I Be A Doula If I Never Had Kids?

Some people erroneously believe you must have given birth to be a great doula. Yet many trust a doctor who has never had their same illness or a surgeon who has never had the same procedure.

Whether or not you have given birth before does not influence if you can be a good doula. In fact, there are many benefits to being a childfree doula including:

• You will not compare your personal experience as a birther with your client
• There is no temptation to “redeem” a bad birth experience of yours
• You do not need to worry about last minute, on-call, childcare arrangements
• Your mental load is quite different than a parent’s and you might be able to offer clients a different type of support
• You might experience less hurdles when jumping into doula work.

You can read more about being a childfree doula here: Can I Be a Doula If I’ve Never Had a Baby?

How Do I Balance Being A Doula As A College Student?

This will look different person to person. As mentioned above, some will only take clients where they would be on-call during their scheduled time off.

Others have a more flexible class schedule and can take clients throughout the year. It is often ideal to take only one client per month until you see how birth work can fit into your current schedule.

You will also want to consider if you have any class dates you cannot miss, such as specific midterms or finals.

Finally, you would want to ensure you network with other area doulas so that you always have a good backup. It is vital for any doula, especially one with a busy schedule, to have backup.

I Really Want to Be a Doula But I Cannot Right Now

Being on-call can be a challenge. Wanting to be a doula when you cannot fit it into your schedule can be challenging. One thing you can do is begin your training. This way, when your life allows you to be on-call, you can jump right into working as a doula.

Take time to network now and get to know other birth professionals in your area. Whether you are ready to begin life on-call next week or next year, you can start preparing now.

Being a doula means spending much of your time on-call. This can be a challenge when balancing life with your work. Many students wonder if they will be able to take a vacation as a doula. It can be difficult, but it is possible to take a vacation as a doula.

At IDI, we want to ensure you are equipped to work as a doula. However, we also want to equip you to have a balanced life. Taking a vacation as a doula can be vital for ensuring a healthy work life balance.

How Can I Take a Vacation as A Doula?

As a doula, you are typically on-call from a client’s 37-42 weeks of pregnancy. You should not plan to travel out of town during this time unless your client is aware and has agreed to the increased likelihood of you using backup.

Many doulas put a vacation week or two on their calendar and ensure they do not accept clients with due dates which would place their on-call period during that vacation.

Other doulas will accept their typical number of clients per month and then plan around when they are not on-call.

There is not a specific right or wrong way to do this. However, it is important you do not spring an increased risk of a backup doula on a client last minute. Family emergencies, illness, etc., are certainly different scenarios.

Always Have a Good Back Up

As we know, estimated due dates are just that, estimates. Even when we do not schedule time away during an on-call period, there is the possibility a client could go into labor early. We may not be contractually obligated to be present, but it is important to offer support if we can.

By working with other doulas in your area, you can ensure clients have backup when you are away. In fact, some doulas work in teams or pairs to ensure their clients always have support. This can make it easier for doulas to navigate scheduled time away, as well as unexpected illness and emergencies.

Other doulas simply network with area doulas and connect as needed for backup for different clients.

Regardless of your plans, it is always ideal to ensure you have backup support for all clients. We cannot always predict illness, emergencies, etc., and we never want to leave a client unsupported.

Be Honest With Your Clients

If you plan a trip near a clients estimated due date based on previous pregnancy timing, you need to always be upfront and clear when booking a client. Perhaps you already have a trip on your calendar, and you get an inquiry. What can you do?

You can either a) refer them to another area doula or b) let them know there is a chance you could be out of town when they give birth, and you have a backup.

If you and the client choose the latter, it can be helpful to set up a chance for the client and backup to meet. It is important that any backup doula you work with have similar birthing philosophies and support philosophies you have. If clients have a good connection with you, should they require working with a backup, they will want to work with someone like you.

Why You Should Take A Vacation As A Doula

Living on-call can be challenging. Doula work is an amazing way to turn your passion into a career. However, it is still work. It is heavy work both physically and emotionally. The stress of being on-call can also be challenging for some families.

Taking time off is a vital part of taking care of yourself as a doula. It is common for doulas to burn out shortly after beginning doula work. Making time for yourself to enjoy life off call is an important way to help you maintain a lengthy career as a doula.

Doula work during covid-19 has been nothing short of challenging. From experienced doulas to new doulas, we all watched as our clients and potential clients experienced a lack of birthing support. Early in the pandemic, this made sense. It was a necessary part of an illness we did not fully understand.

As the pandemic continues, and morphs into an endemic, doula work during covid-19 continues to present challenges. How do we keep up with ever-changing guidelines? What do we do when our clients feel under supported?

Are we meant to be involved with advocacy?

At the International Doula Institute, we are committed to helping doulas during and beyond training. Therefore, we keep our up-to-date blog, email newsletters, and our student group.

How IDI Supported Doula Work During Covid-19

At IDI, we understood the importance of continuing doula work, doula training, and more during the pandemic. We adjusted out training requirements to ensure students could complete their trainings. IDI ensured we had enough instructors to ensure everyone was getting their needed certifications in a timely manner.

We also spoke with a labor and delivery nurse to better understand what was happening in local hospitals and why.

Now that we are beyond the initial pandemic, especially before we understood covid-19, this article is not as relevant. However, reading this will help you understand what doula work can look like during a pandemic.

“As doulas, it is not uncommon for us to review policies through the lens of supporting birthing rights. We often question things which could contribute to a negative birth experience. However, as of March 2020 we are living through an unprecedented global pandemic. Covid-19, also referred to as the novel coronavirus, is presenting immense challenges. They impact our healthcare providers, including midwives, obstetricians, and nurses.

At IDI, we want you to know that we realize the difficulties you are facing. As a doula, pregnant person, or birth partner, 2020 is hard. Covid-19 and doulas presents a lot of challenges for our profession.”

You can read the entire article here: COVID19 and Doulas- We are here to help.

Providing Virtual Support – Doula Work During Covid-19

For many doulas, during the heigh of the pandemic and now, virtual support became an option to provide support when in person support was deemed unsafe or against local policies. It allowed clients to maintain some support despite the inability to do so in a traditional way.

We provided in-depth information on how to provide virtual support before, during, and after birth.

Just a small example of what we recommended:

“Providing virtual doula support might look like:

Before Labor

• Providing extra support and prenatal education
• Making and loaning out birth bags which include commonly used doula items like a rebozo, tennis ball, rice sock, etc.

During Labor

• Be on call as you normally would and be ready to video chat, take a call, or quickly respond to texts
• The support person may want to wear earbuds so they can chat with you and easily hear your instructions with the least amount of distraction for the laboring woman (great option during transition)

During The Postpartum Period

• Check in and allow her to process her birth story if she desires. Let her share the positive, the scary, whatever feelings she has so she can process the experience without judgement.”

To read all our virtual doula support recommendations, be sure to read Providing Virtual Doula Support.

How Do I Continue Doula Work During Covid-19 as it Continues to Change?

The shortest answer is to remain flexible. Understand that while we hope there will continue to be less restrictions, we cannot control what will happen. You can take part in community advocacy to share about the evidenced-based benefits of allowing birthers to always have their doula.

You can also consider the following:

• Continue to live covid “cautious” to reduce your risk of becoming positive and needing to miss supporting your client
• Encourage clients to stay up to date with their healthcare provider’s practice guidelines and restrictions
• Educate clients about all their birth options, including locations, facilities, homebirth, etc.
• Include a covid-19 clause in your service agreement or contract with your clients so both parties know what to expect in all circumstances
• Reach out to IDI for advocacy on your behalf if you run into any certification issues with hospitals, birth facilities, organizations, etc.

At the International Doula Institute, our name says it all. We are an international doula organization and business. We strive to meet the needs of all birth workers and birthing families. Diversity, equity, and inclusion training is an important part of meeting the needs for all.

We strongly believe every person deserves dignity in birth. This can only be achieved when professionals understand how to meet each client with empathy, support, and understanding. Diversity, equity, and inclusion training helps ensure more families experience dignity in birth.

What Is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Birth Work?

We get it, if you are in the United States, where many but certainly not all our students reside, you hear these buzzwords often. It is easy to assume they are political in nature or something simply from your HR department at work.

However, at IDI, we know the real reasons behind diversity, equity, and inclusion and they are neither political nor HR related. They are necessary components in dignity in birth.

You see, diversity is simply a state. A place is either diverse or it is not. Our student body at IDI is incredibly diverse. This is important and something we value. Our staff is also diverse, another thing we value. However, simply being diverse is only part of the equation.

Real Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Diversity is a fact. A place, an organization, a group, etc., is simply diverse or it is not. IDI simply being diverse is not going to improve birth work. If all we needed was diversity to improve birthing outcomes and spaces, we would be good. However, it is clear we need more.

Equity is a choice. A company, organization, space, etc., needs to make the choice to have equity. This means ensuring everyone has what they need to be successful. For IDI, this means ensuring all our students have the tools to complete their training.

If you are a doula with a disability, language barrier, etc., we focus on equity which aids in your being able to complete training. With our DEI course, we ensure our birth workers have the skills to provide the same equity to their clients.

When one chooses equity, they can take the action of inclusion. This means everyone has a voice and a seat at the table. At IDI, this means our diverse leadership ensures our curriculum is representative of many types of birth workers. It also means we want to hear from all our students about areas we need to improve.

As a birth worker, the action of inclusion means creating a space comfortable for all clients and colleagues. It may also mean taking part in community action and advocacy groups.

What Does IDI’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training Cover?

At IDI, we believe becoming a doula is more than simply understanding the birth process. Pregnancy and birth are times of vulnerability and unique experiences. Our knowlesge must go beyond basic understanding to truly provide appropriate birth support.

We have always required emotional intelligence education as part of our trainings. We believe it is vital to be able to interact with clients in safe and meaningful ways.

However, as we learn and grow, we are understanding the importance of ensuring our work includes learning how to be empathetic and supportive to all clients and their families.

Our DEI training includes:

• Understanding Ethnocentrism
• History of Discrimination
• Systemic Racism
• Complexities of Being Part of the Solution
• Culture and Language Barriers
• Birth and LGBTQ+ Families
• Religious Discrimination
• Accessibility in Care
• Parenting With Disabilities
• And more!

To support all clients, we need to understand what they could be bringing with them. Obviously, we need to never make assumptions about what a client might carry. However, when we have the background knowledge, should they share a particular difficulty with us, we can offer appropriate support and care.

Become a DEI Certified Doula Today!

Doulas are beginning to branch out to more work than simply attending births. With a DEI certification, you equip yourself to become a bigger asset to your community, local birthing facilities, and more.

Doulas are often a part of non-profits, community organizations, and even local and federal government projects. The more we understand about social determinants of health, discrimination, and barriers, the better we can support our clients.

Ready to get started? Register today and advance your birth work carrier! This course is also ideal for nurses, midwives, OB/GYNs, lactation consultants, and more.