Dear Doula Agency Owners: Let Your Clients Choose

Posted on: July 15, 2025 | Doula Note to doula agency owners

If you run a doula agency and your process skips the client interview, you’re missing the whole friggin’ point of what doulas do.

Birth is personal. It’s raw, it’s intimate, and emotionally, it’s all encompassing.

The relationship between a client and their doula matters a lot. Chemistry, communication style, shared values, vibe… it all plays a role in whether that doula’s support will feel safe and helpful in the heat of labor or the blur of the postpartum period.

So who came up with this idea to assign a doula to a client and hope it works out? Probably the same people who said to create a bunch of canned email response and put them on auto send… smh…

This stuff isn’t just frustrating… it’s wrong. Doula work is about RELATIONSHIP BUILDING and relationship building takes real-time communication.

Listen, doulas are not interchangeable. And we sure as hell aren’t doing anyone any favors by skipping the most important part of the process, THE CONSULT! You know… the part where the doula goes and meets with the client and gives the client the power to CHOOSE them.

Let the client choose who they want in their space. It’s that simple. And doulas, you have to go meet the potential client. You have to give them a reason to CHOOSE YOU!

Yes, it’s gonna take a little more time, but if the doula agency is built on truly supporting families, (not just filling slots on the calendar…), then this needs to be non-negotiable.

When you skip the interview, you’re not streamlining your business, you’re steamrolling your clients… (There. I said it.) You’re taking away a person’s right to choose who supports them during one of the most life changing moments of their life.

Want to run a respected, ethical, client-centered doula agency? Start by respecting your clients enough to let them meet the doula first. Every. Single. Time.

Consent and connection are not optional. They are the foundation of good doula work and understanding that is the hallmark of a doula great agency.