Doula Certification with The BirthBliss Academy is a guided journey that helps you grow in confidence, skill, and self-awareness as you begin supporting families. It involves completing a set number of births or postnatal jobs, reflecting on each experience, and having regular conversations with your Doula Coach who supports you throughout the process. Rather than ticking boxes, the Certification Programme focuses on real learning. You’ll explore what each job taught you, how you felt, what went well, and what you might do differently next time. This gentle rhythm of work, reflect, learn, and grow helps you develop your own unique way of working. Certification is optional, but many doulas find it reassuring. It strengthens your credibility, helps you build a solid foundation for your business, and makes sure you have the support you need as you gain experience. If you plan to join Doula UK, they require doulas to be enrolled in a coaching or mentoring programme during their early work, so the BirthBliss Certification Programme fulfils that requirement too. The heart of certification is simple: you are not doing this alone. You have someone walking beside you as you become the doula you want to be.

Starting your Doula Certification is simple. Visit The BirthBliss Academy website and choose the pathway that feels right for you: Birth Doula Certification, Postnatal Doula Certification, or both. Once you’ve signed up, you’ll hear from Siobhan Smith, Head of the Certification Programme. Siobhan will get in touch to talk you through the next steps, answer any questions, and help you feel settled before you are matched with your Doula Coach. From there, your coaching journey begins, and you’ll have steady support as you take your first steps into doula work.

The Doula Certification Programme has two simple costs. Sign-up fee: £40 Debrief fee: £60 per client job, paid directly to your Doula Coach You’ll complete four jobs for Birth Certification or four for Postnatal Certification. If you are doing both pathways, you’ll complete eight jobs in total. There are no hidden fees. You pay as you learn and grow, and all of these costs can be treated as business expenses as part of your professional development.

We recommend completing the Certification Programme within 6 to 24 months. This gives you plenty of time to support your required clients, reflect on each experience, and have meaningful conversations with your Doula Coach. The timing is flexible. Everyone moves at their own pace, and life sometimes gets busy. What matters most is steady progress, regular reflection, and feeling supported as you grow into your doula work.

Absolutely. If you already have experience as a doula, you are very welcome to join the Certification Programme. You will still need to complete the required number of client jobs for certification, four births and or four postnatal jobs, but previous experience can be included if it has taken place within the past year. Instead of formal feedback forms, you can share any reflections, messages, or informal feedback you already have from past clients or mentors. Your Doula Coach will help you work out what can be included and how your existing experience fits into the wider learning journey. The aim is to recognise the work you have already done while giving you the support and structure to grow with confidence.

No, you can choose the pathway that suits you best. You can complete Birth Doula Certification, Postnatal Doula Certification, or both, depending on the type of work you feel most drawn to. If you would like to be certified in both areas, you are welcome to complete both pathways. This gives you a wider range of experience and allows you to offer full continuity of care from pregnancy through the postnatal period. The choice is entirely yours and your Doula Coach will support you whichever direction you take.

After you sign up, you’ll hear from Siobhan Smith, who will arrange a friendly call to talk you through the next steps and answer any questions. Once you’ve had that initial chat, you’ll be matched with your Doula Coach, an experienced BirthBliss doula who will support you throughout your Certification journey. From there, you can begin taking on clients, completing your reflections, and arranging your debrief sessions with your coach. You’ll have steady support as you grow in confidence and develop your own way of working as a doula.

After each client job, you’ll fill in your Reflective Record Sheet, and if you’ve gathered any informal feedback from the family, you can share that with your coach too. Once you’re ready, you’ll book your debrief session. During your debrief, you and your Doula Coach will talk through the experience together. It’s a gentle, supportive conversation where you can explore what felt good, what you learned, and what you might want to do differently next time. Your coach will help you notice your strengths, make sense of anything that felt challenging, and carry your learning forward into your next job. The debrief sessions are never about judging you; they’re there to help you grow with confidence and clarity.

Once you’ve completed the required number of client jobs and the debrief sessions that go with them, you’ll have a final reflective conversation with your Doula Coach. This isn’t an interview or an assessment. It’s a gentle look back at your whole journey, exploring how you’ve grown, what you’ve learned, and how you feel stepping into your doula work with more confidence. Your coach will use the BirthBliss Readiness Criteria to consider whether you are ready for certification. They will take into account your reflections, your learning across your jobs, and any informal client feedback you’ve chosen to gather. If your coach feels you’ve met the readiness criteria, your Certification Recommendation will be passed to Kicki Hansard, Founder of The BirthBliss Academy. Kicki will review everything with care, and if all is in place, she will award your Doula Certification. If you would benefit from a little more time or experience, your coach will guide you through the next steps with warmth and reassurance. The aim is always the same, to help you reach certification in a way that feels steady, supported, and right for you.

We recommend completing the Certification Programme within 24 months, but we know life doesn’t always follow a tidy timeline. If you need more time, you can extend the process by reapplying, and any completed jobs will carry over. There are also situations where you may pause your Certification Programme, such as illness, bereavement, or maternity leave. In these cases, you can temporarily put the process on hold and pick it up again when you feel ready. The aim is to support you, not pressure you. The pathway is flexible so you can move through it at a pace that fits your life and your wellbeing.

After each client job, you’ll fill in your Reflective Record Sheet, which you’ll find in the BirthBliss Academy Members Area. This reflection is the main piece of learning your Doula Coach will work with. Client feedback is now optional. If you receive any informal feedback from the family, such as a message, a short note, or something they mention in conversation, you’re welcome to share that with your coach. There’s no need to ask clients to complete a formal form unless they are happy to do so. We do encourage you to start getting comfortable with asking for testimonials early on, even in a gentle, informal way. It’s a valuable habit for your business and helps you build confidence around collecting feedback over time. Once you’ve gathered your reflections, you can send everything to your coach and then arrange your debrief session. The aim is to keep the process simple, supportive, and easy for both you and the families you care for.

Yes. To help you build solid, real-world experience as a doula, we limit the number of friends, family, and volunteer clients you can include in your Certification Programme. Supporting someone you already know can feel very different from working with a paying client. The expectations, boundaries, and dynamics naturally shift, and while these experiences can still teach you a lot, they don’t always reflect the realities of running a doula business. The same applies to volunteer work. It’s meaningful and valuable, but it doesn’t always involve contracts, payments, or the same level of professional responsibility. For this reason, you can include up to two jobs in total from friends, family, or voluntary work. The rest of your Certification experience should come from paid clients so you can learn the full rhythm of professional doula work, including communication, boundaries, invoicing, and client expectations. The aim is to make sure you finish your Certification feeling confident, prepared, and fully ready to run your doula business with ease.

Yes, you can choose to work with a mentor from Doula UK instead of a BirthBliss Doula Coach. If you decide to work with a Doula UK mentor, simply let us know once you’ve become a recognised doula with Doula UK, and we will automatically award you our BirthBliss Academy accreditation. Likewise, if you’re working with a BirthBliss Doula Coach and later decide to join Doula UK, we’ll ensure your Doula UK membership is recognised and your accreditation status is automatically updated. This allows for flexibility in your journey while ensuring your commitment to professional mentorship is upheld.

Your Doula Coach is your main source of support throughout the Certification Programme. They’ll guide you, listen to you, and help you make sense of your experiences as you grow. Alongside this, you’ll have access to the BirthBliss Academy Members Area, where you’ll find essential documents, useful templates, and additional learning resources to support both your doula work and your business. If you need extra help with practical business tasks, such as invoicing, contracts, or organising admin, you’re welcome to seek support from a virtual assistant or a business coach. Building a doula business involves many different elements, and it’s completely fine to reach out for the support you need. The aim is for you to feel well-held, well-resourced, and confident as you move through your Certification journey.

Most doulas are ready for certification once they’ve completed the required number of client jobs, which is four births and four postnatal jobs, with at least five sessions for each postnatal client. The programme is designed so that this amount of experience, combined with your reflections and coaching conversations, gives you everything you need to feel grounded and confident in your doula work. Readiness isn’t about perfection. It’s about showing that you can support families with clarity, calm, and professionalism, and that you understand the practical side of running your doula business. Your Doula Coach will look at your reflections, your growth over time, and any informal feedback you’ve gathered to build a clear picture of where you are. For most doulas, completing the required jobs is enough. We don’t keep adding more and more experiences. Once you’ve met the criteria and your coach feels you’re ready, your Certification Recommendation is passed on for review, and from there, you can move forward to becoming a Certified BirthBliss Doula. You’ll know you're ready because the journey will have shaped you, supported you, and helped you step into your doula role with confidence.

The first step in your Certification journey is finding your own clients. Your Doula Coach will support and guide you, but securing those early jobs is something you actively pursue yourself. Start by connecting with your local community. Let people know what you offer. Join online doula groups, pregnancy circles, and local parent networks where families may be looking for support. You can also reach out to midwives, antenatal teachers, perinatal professionals, and community groups who may be happy to recommend you. Creating a simple online presence can also make a big difference. This could be a basic website, a social media page, or a listing on The Doula Directory. Anything that helps people find you and understand the kind of support you offer. Finding your first clients is a key part of your learning. It builds confidence, helps you find your voice, and teaches you the rhythm of working professionally with families. Your Doula Coach will be by your side throughout, offering guidance and helping you reflect as you move from one job to the next.

Yes, absolutely. Once you’ve completed the Certification Programme, you are very welcome to continue receiving support from your Doula Coach. Many doulas find that ongoing coaching is helpful as they refine their skills, grow their business, or navigate new and more complex client situations. If you feel continued coaching would support your development, you can speak directly with your Doula Coach about setting up a private arrangement. They will be happy to explore what ongoing guidance might look like for you. The aim is always the same: to make sure you feel supported, confident, and well-equipped as your doula career continues to grow.