I’m thinking about a doula partnership, what should I know?

Krista Jones Photography

Honestly, having a doula partner was one of my favorite ways to work as a doula. The support of not carrying the burden alone was well worth it, but there are definitely pros and cons, as well as, several options of partnership.

Pros:

• Share clients

• Share on-call schedule, which helps prevent burnout

• Less likely to miss special, family events such as birthdays, weddings, etc.

• Always have someone to talk to about the birth, especially to process the harder births

Cons:

• A little less 1-1 time prenatally with clients

• Extra coordinating of schedules

• Explaining to potential clients what the partnership looks like.

How does a doula partnership work?

First, you need to find a person who is similar to you. You will want your clients to feel comfortable with both doulas. This means finding someone who “doulas” like you do! You will be looking for someone who shares your birth philosophy, Christian worldview, lives within an hour's drive from you, and someone you can genuinely be friends with. You will be working intimately with your partner and will want to be able to form a friendship.

Finding your person is probably the hardest part of moving into the partnership model. This is where you will find the Lord in prayer. The Lord cares for you. He cares for your well-being physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially. He is your provider. Jesus specifically tells us in Matthew 7 to ask for what we want. If the Lord has led you to being in a doula partnership model, then He will supply you with a partner. You simply need to petition your father for what you need.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.”

Next, you will decide how to structure your workload and payment. There are different ways to do this, but my best advice is to work with your partner to create your ideal package, and then you will split the cost straight down the middle, each receiving half of the fee from the client. Let’s take a look at some workload options and how that might work with a partner.

• Doula Basics Package

  • 1 Prental: Both doulas attend the prenatal together in person. This visit normally takes place around 34 weeks gestation.

  • 4 Weeks On-Call: The doulas normally swap on call every other week.

  • Birth: The doula on call attends the birth.

  • 1 Postpartum: The doula who attended the birth attends the postartum visit.

• Doula Deluxe Package

  • 2 Prenatals: Each partner does one prenatal in person with the client. You will decide together exactly what information will be covered in each prenatal. Doula A will always do the first prenatal with the client, normally around 26 weeks. Doula B will always do the second prenatal, normally around 34 weeks.

  • 4 Weeks On-Call: Each doula is on call for two weeks of the 4 week period. Normally with a year long period, doulas will swap on call every other week.

  • Birth: The doula on call with attend the birth.

  • 2 Postpartum Visits: The doula who attend the birth with attend the initial post birth visit, normally around 2 weeks postpartum. The doula who did not attend the birth will attend a second postpartum visit around 6 weeks postpartum.

• Additional Services

  Doula partners can offer additional services independently or together.

  Childbirth Education: If each doula is a certified educator, then the doulas can swap teaching every other month. If only one is certified, then she can teach the clients.

  Additional services the doula partners might offer include:

  • Placenta Encapsulation

  • Belling Binding

  • Prenatal Massage

The key to a healthy partnership is good communication, clear expectations on both parties, and working to keep the workload as balanced as possible. If one doula gets a few births ahead, then there should be a way to help balance the scales. For my partner and me, the rule was that if one of us got three births ahead, the other doula would go on call to catch up. The goal was for us to never be more than two births apart.

How do you pay yourself?

To keep things simple, it is helpful to invoice clients separately. This maintains a clear distinction between the two businesses and eliminates any potential tax complications.

You can simply tell clients,“We are two doulas who partner and share clients, but have separate businesses and file your taxes separately.”

The above explanation is sufficient for most clients, and no further explanation is needed. You will both invoice the client for 50% of the total package. You will ask the client to place a deposit on both invoices.

I hope this helps you gain a bit of clarity when deciding whether a doula partnership model might be a good fit for you. Have more questions? Please leave us a comment!