Questions about Becoming a Doula with New Beginnings

Yes, we currently offer two certification programs: Birth Doula and Postpartum Doula. You’ll be certified by New Beginnings Childbirth Services. Doulas are not trained as medical personnel. Their expertise is in providing holistic physical, emotional, and mental support through pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Certification through New Beginnings demonstrates your commitment to preparation and research-based education. Full Explanation »

New Beginnings Doula Training is for those seeking comprehensive preparation in understanding the full scope of the birthing and postpartum experience. Our certified birth doulas can also qualify for Medicaid compensation in many states in the U.S. Additional Reasons Why to Certify »

Doulas often work with medical professionals to ensure their clients receive excellent and comprehensive support. It’s important that New Beginnings doulas are prepared to read and share research and evidence based information with their clients, to help them navigate the medical system. Our doulas are also familiar with medical terminology and common hospital practices. With the vast majority of births being performed in hospitals, training on how to navigate within a medical environment is essential to your success as a doula.

Yes, upon course completion, you will receive a digital certificate of completion in both PDF and PNG formats. The PDF version is print quality. In addition to receiving these digital files, you will also have a web page posted specifically for your certification. This will serve the dual purpose of validating your credentials and advertising your services as a doula. We have discontinued mailing printed certificates in favor of the digital version. The digital version allows us to provide an extra layer of validation. View Current Listing of Certified Doulas »

We currently offer two certification programs: Birth Doula and Postpartum Doula. They are separate certificates, and you will have access to both of them when you register for training. You can decide which program(s) you want to work on.

The following requirements must be completed to receive doula certification through New Beginning:

Read through all course work.
Read assigned readings.
Complete all written assignments.
Provide full doula support for 2 clients.
Attend 2 births for birth doula training or work with 2 postpartum clients for postpartum doula training.
Submit 2 birth packets for birth doula, or 2 client care packets for postpartum doula.

$90 minimum total payment if certification requirements are completed in less than 3 months. (This includes the $30 payment you made when you registered for training.)
Read full details for Certification Requirements >>

There are no “pass” or “fail” grades when working through your course materials. Rather, assignments are designed to assess comprehension and mastery of the topic being discussed.

Assignments are submitted in a written format. The assignments are structured in such a way to assess critical thinking skills and comprehension of the topic presented. There is no predefined writing format, essay style, or length requirements for each answer.

Your trainer will review your submitted assignments and mark the assignment as “complete” or “incomplete”. If marked as “incomplete” then your trainer will offer additional feedback in the comments and then you will be able to rework the assignment and resubmit it for review. Trainers follow a predefined course rubric when assessing if an assignment is to be marked “complete” or “incomplete”.

New Beginnings requires that you attend two (2) births during the birth doula training process -or- work with two postpartum clients for postpartum training. Because specific skills are being taught and practiced, previously attended births usually do not qualify for the requirement.

Yes and Yes. While we don’t have established connections with birth professionals in most communities, we prepare our students to establish those connections where they live. A primary aim of our program is our emphasis on community and working yourself into the established birthing community where you live. We give a little more attention to the medical aspects of birth, so that our doulas feel confident and comfortable working alongside other members of the birth team.

We also encourage community outreach through our assignments. These community assignments help you develop relationships with prospective connections and clients.

No, there are no educational prerequisites for enrolling in our certification program. Anyone of any age is welcome to register for our training programs. Please note that our program is a reading-intensive program including college-level, research-based medical papers.

There is no time limit on how long you have to complete your training. Each certification program includes between 150 – 200 hours of training. The average completion time per program is six to nine months, but many students complete certification over the span of one year. Students with a background in nursing or other birth-related professions often find that they are able to complete their training more quickly. Each program has a $90/ 3 month minimum to complete, because of the amount of work involved. Course Requirements and Process »

You can pause your training at any time by logging in to the website, accessing your billing information, and canceling payments. Your information and assignments will be saved on the website and you may resume training at any time by logging in and making a new payment. If you have any issues with pausing or resuming training, please contact us.

Yes, New Beginnings Doula Training programs are self-paced. There are no start dates, no open-enrollments dates, and no time frames to complete assignments. Because we all live busy lives, we understand that it can be hard to commit to a strict schedule.

You may pause or take an extended breaks from your training at any time.

Though you will have no required classroom times or attendance, we strongly encourage potential students to self-assess their current time commitments, and plan to dedicate a specific amount of time per week towards doula training, such as 5 to 10 hours per week.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, New Beginnings Doula Training offered a basic doula certificate for family members who were not otherwise allowed in the hospital. With the more recent efforts to receive Medicaid approval for our certified birth doulas across the U.S., we have discontinued the basic certificate to prevent confusion between the two certificates.

Yes, our coursework is all online. We currently have no in-person classes, but we encourage community involvement and networking. We have a Facebook group where our students and alumni chat and share notes and stories together. And we have a directory of graduates displaying names, locations, and contact information for connection purposes. Additionally, you are expected to get involved in the community where you live in order to create connections and to network with your local birth community.

Research has demonstrated that online education in doula training is a more effective form of preparation than the traditional workshops. The skills and actions that a doula can develop through online learning are typically more advanced and comprehensive than what will be presented in an in-person workshop. Online training allows time for internalizing of important concepts that pertain to doula work, and ensuring comprehension so those concepts can be put in use when working with clients.

Yes, New Beginnings Doula Training is presented exclusively online. There are no in-person workshops or classes associated with the training or certification process.

While our training is entirely online, students are expected to complete several learning projects within the communities where they live. These activities are generally flexible to your location and are designed to open doors into your local birth community for future opportunities.

Our service is exclusively an online service that is available worldwide, anywhere where an Internet connection is available. New Beginnings Doula Training itself is managed in the state of Utah in the United States, and our staff is spread across multiple states. Our Birth Doula Certificate has been approved for Medicaid compensation in many states in the U.S. and we are working to ensure approval wherever doula training standards have been established.

Read more about the Doula Medicaid Project here >>

Worldwide, Australia has a training standard for doulas, but doesn’t prevent training through other organizations that are not compliant with the standard.

Yes, New Beginnings Doula Training is a valid doula certification program throughout the world. Because of the non-medical nature of doula support in the birthing process, many governments do not have a certification standard to practice as a doula.

The Australian government has a standard in place which allows vocational training organizations to demonstrate the validity of its training through the Cert IV standard. Currently, only one doula training organization in Australia holds the Cert IV recognition. There are no laws in place which require training through that one organization (which can be financially and logistically impractical for many because of the costs and in-person nature of the training). Some government agencies require certification for the purpose of reimbursement, but generally speaking, beyond certification, requirements are loosely regulated.

For more information, please consider the U.S. National Library of Medicine article on the topic.

After you have completed the payment process, you should receive a follow-up email to the email address that you entered for registration. Your confirmation email from New Beginnings Doula Training will have a link to complete the registration process. If you don’t find it in your inbox, then check your spam filter.

If you used a friend’s or family member’s PayPal account to register for training, then the email will be sent to their email address. Some students no longer have access to the email address associated with their PayPal account.

If you don’t receive the follow up email, or don’t have access to the account where it was sent, then feel free to contact us.

One exception to this is if you have paid with an eCheck through PayPal. eChecks typically take 3 – 5 business days to clear the bank and for funds to become available to PayPal. Your registration cannot be completed until funds have cleared through PayPal. If funds have been transferred, and you are still waiting to register, then please contact us.

The New Beginnings course is designed to be accomplished in your own time. There is no official “beginning” or “ending” date. You can start whenever you wish, pause when needed, and end when you have finished all the assignments and are ready for certification. There are two (2) books to purchase for birth doula training in order to effectively complete the course. Buying those books is an excellent first step while you get acquainted with the course materials.

Students are required to purchase their own books prior to or at the start of their training.

Books may be purchased through any reputable bookseller online. We recommend checking books-a-million.com, thriftbooks.com, ebay.com or amazon.com. We do not receive any commission on links to these books from our websites. It is possible to borrow the books from a friend or your local library. However, purchasing is preferable to borrowing, since you will be referencing them often.

Books are not required before starting your training, but will be needed to complete reading assignments associated with course assignments.

There are two (2) books used in the birth doula course and three (3) books that you will need for the postpartum doula course that you will need in order to complete certification.

Required books for Birth Doulas:

–The Birth Partner, Sixth Revised Edition: A Complete Guide to Childbirth for Dads, Partners, Doulas, and Other Labor Companions (The 4th or 5th edition is acceptable, but page numbers will be different.)
–Homebirth in the Hospital: Integrating Natural Childbirth with Modern Medicine by Stacey Marie Kerr

Required books for Postpartum Doulas:

–The First Forty Days, by Heng Ou
–The Baby Book, by William Sears
–Nurturing the Family: A Doula’s Guide to Supporting New Parents (Second Edition, published December, 2019), by Jacqueline Kelleher

We don’t make any money when you purchase these books. Links are provided for your convenience. Please try to get the most recent edition of each book, if possible. You may use any format of the book you wish, but you will need to refer to specific pages or sections and it may be easier to do this with a physical copy than with an electronic book or audiobook.

The total cost of books will vary, depending on the format, whether they’re used or new, and where you purchase them. Thriftbooks.com is a good resource for used books, but Amazon is more widely known and used. Get full details »

If all you have available is a different edition of the books than what we recommend, then you can still use that edition for the course. Note that some of the page numbers may be different, so you will look more carefully for certain information.

Trainers are assigned new students automatically as new students register for training. Each trainer has individual working hours. You can expect to receive an automated introductory email from your trainer upon completing your registration, which includes the option to schedule a coaching call.

Coaching calls usually last around 15 minutes, and may be via phone call or Google meeting, depending on your trainer’s availability. Some trainers will have other options for calls. Please contact your trainer if you have specific accessibility or accommodation needs. You can begin working on course assignments immediately after registration, if desired. Meet our team here.

Yes. A coaching call is very helpful for you and your trainer to meet and discuss your learning style, personality, goals, motivation, preferred contact method, and more. We have found that this contact drastically improves the student/ trainer relationship and the likelihood that the student will complete training.

New Beginnings offers one (1) simple fee for registration, and there is a minimum cost for certification. The registration cost is USD $30, and students are billed USD $30 per month until completion of the training. Average length for certification is 9 to 12 months. If a student completes training in less than 3 months of their paid subscription, there is a minimum total cost of $90 to receive their certificate. This means they must have paid at least $90 to New Beginnings total before their certificate will be issued. If a student completes training in one month, they must pay an additional $60 to receive their certificate. If they finish in two months, they will need to pay $30 more to receive their certificate. Students who complete training in more than 3 months of their paid subscription do not need to make any additional payments before a certificate will be issued. There is no minimum or maximum amount of time to complete the training, but the estimated number of hours you can reasonably expect to spend working through the program is 150-200. There are no hidden fees. If at any time you need to pause the training, then your progress will be saved and the monthly charge will be suspended. When you wish to resume, then you can continue where you left off and your monthly charge will be renewed with no penalties and no stacked fees.

The only additional cost for New Beginnings Doula Training are the two required books sold separately. The approximate cost for both books is USD $45, depending on location. Get full details »

Beyond the monthly fee of $30/USD, (and the one-time cost for books,) the student must have paid a minimum total of $90 to New Beginnings Doula Training for a certificate to be issued. Only students who complete training in less than 3 months paid subscription are required to make an additional payment in order to receive their certificate. This is to ensure that we can compensate our trainers for their time.

It depends on how long a student takes to finish, but the minimum total cost is USD $90. The course is self-led, so there is no one-size-fits-all “total cost” for the program. The total amount each student pays is based on how long it takes them to complete the course.

Billing happens once a month, on the same day each subsequent month as when you first registered. The bank or credit card that you used at registration will be billed each month until the end of your training. For instance, if you registered on the 15th, then you will be billed on the 15th of next month.

We accept PayPal or credit card.

If you are not able to use PayPal or a credit card, please contact us about alternative payment options. You may mail a check, and your registration will need to be manually set up. Your student account will become active when the check has cleared our banking institution and we have all of your necessary information. These subscriptions are more time intensive to set up, and you can communicate with us about it via email.

Generally no, but you may have trouble accessing your registration link if you do not have access to the email address associated with your PayPal account. If this happens, you can email us directly and request a registration link after payment has been made.

During the registration process, you will have the option to specify different emails for primary communications and your PayPal account. If your PayPal email address is different from the primary email address, then it is important to keep the PayPal email account as it is registered with PayPal so that your account is properly credited for future payments.

A payment subscription is billed on the same date of the month (date, not day of the week) as when the subscription was first initiated. So for example, if a subscription is created on February 5th, then the next payment would be drawn on March 5th, then April 5th, May 5th, and so forth.

PayPal does NOT send advance notice of when a payment is to be drafted. If funds are not available on the bill date, then PayPal will attempt to draft a payment again in 5 days. If the second attempt to collect fails, then PayPal will attempt to draft a payment once more in another 5 days, or 10 days after the original payment due date. If the payment is unsuccessful after the third attempt, then the subscription will be suspended and your student account will be marked as inactive. We use Stripe to process credit card payments, and their collection process is similar to that of PayPal.

We do not charge penalty fees for late or non-payments.

Registration and subscriptions may be paused or canceled at any time. There are no fees or penalties for doing so. To request to pause or to cancel your training, you may log in and cancel it yourself, or you may contact your trainer directly, or use our contact form. A link to cancel your subscription with PayPal or Stripe is provided from the billing section of the course website.

A canceled payment subscription will move your account to inactive status at the end of the current billing cycle (30 days after the last payment was received). Any progress made towards your certification will be saved indefinitely. You may resume training at any time by logging in on our website and making a new payment.

Absolutely. Our default action for canceled accounts is to move them to an inactive status. An inactive account is non-billable. Additionally, an inactive account blocks access to all course materials and submitted assignments.

Upon written request, accounts may be completely removed from our course website. When this happens, all records (including course progress, submitted assignments, and transaction receipts) are destroyed and become irretrievable. We don’t like to do this, but you can request it.

Due to the need to maintain records for bookkeeping purposes, we are unable to remove account information from our bookkeeping system.

No, there are no penalties, no early-termination fees, and no contract fees for pausing or canceling your subscription. Additionally, there are no fees for resuming training after having paused your training. You will have access to the online coursework and your trainer as long as monthly payments are current. You are free to pause or cancel your training at any time by canceling your payment subscription. There are no contracts. There are no hidden subscription fees. There are no limits for how many times you are allowed to pause.

We typically do not offer refunds on the first month’s registration because there are manual processes that take place on our end almost immediately after a registration is completed.

We will not issue a refund if your trainer has engaged with you during the subscription month you are requesting a refund for. Engagement from a trainer means the trainer has emailed, texted, or called you for any reason, you had a coaching call with your trainer via phone, Google Meet, email, or other means, or your trainer graded any of your submitted assignments and/or gave feedback on your work via the assignments on the website or any other means of contact.

We will not issue a refund if our staff (any member of our team) has engaged with you via any of the methods mentioned above.

For subsequent monthly payments, when no actions have been taken on an account by the student, trainer, or staff, we will consider the eligibility of the account for refund, upon written request from the student.

No requests for refunds will be considered for transactions older than 30 days, no exceptions.

Upon written request, an account may be considered eligible for one month’s refund only. Refunds are processed through the funding source for which the requested payment refund was received.

For example, if a payment was made with your credit card via PayPal, your refund should be returned to your credit card via PayPal.

Typical turn-around time for a refund to return to your funding source is 10 business days or two weeks. This time frame allows us time to receive and process the request on our end. PayPal’s default time frame for refunds is 5 business days or one week. The refund process is never instant or immediate, due to security checks that are beyond our control.

Your assigned trainer will always be your first point of contact when you have specific questions about your training and progress. For more general questions, you can also post inquiries to our dedicated Facebook group for students and alumni.

Within a couple days of your registration, your trainer will email you a welcome email with details on how to contact them. If you can find that email, then you can reply to it and it will go directly to them. If you cannot find the email, then you can contact us and we will get you connected. Replying to any of your instructor’s comments on your submitted assignments will also go directly to them. If you make changes to an assignment and want it to be graded by your trainer, please be sure to submit or resubmit it. Commenting on an assignment will not submit or resubmit the assignment.

Definitely. Contact the office, and we can resolve the issue or reassign you to another trainer with no penalties on your progress.

Finding doula clients first requires that you are ready to be found. Work on your certification and skills. Research your local resources. Connect with your local community and crisis centers. And let people know that you are available. We have written a couple posts on it on our blog to help. (There is lots of other quality information to research and peruse elsewhere on our blog too.)

While it is recommended to at least read the course work in order so it is more easily understood, many of the assignments are able to be temporarily skipped. If you find yourself stuck on an assignment, then feel free to set it to the side and work on another assignment instead. Also contact your trainer through the method of communication they provided in their welcome email, or through a comment on one of your submitted assignments. They will be happy to listen, brainstorm with you, and find solutions.

When an exception is possible to be granted to any course assignment, it must be granted in writing on a case-by-case basis. Connect with your trainer if you have difficulties completing any of the assignments.

Yes. The required books are needed as reference materials to effectively complete the New Beginnings courses.

All assignments through New Beginnings Doula Training are submitted in a written/ open-text/essay format. Our trainers are looking for comprehension of the subject material being reviewed, and for completion of each part of an assignment. Assignments are marked as “incomplete” or “complete”.

If an assignment is marked as “incomplete,” then students have the opportunity to ask questions of the instructor and to resubmit the assignment as many times as necessary to complete the assignment.

No. When you submit an assignment, you are not required to write an essay. Your trainer will not grade you based on spelling or grammar or word construction abilities. Your trainer is only looking to see if you answered all the questions asked in the assignment clearly and accurately. If a paragraph-style response is required, then the curriculum will state that explicitly. If an assignment is marked incomplete, then an explanation and a request for further or different answers will be included with the marking. Also sometimes a trainer will ask for further clarification in some of your answers in order to mark the assignment as complete. This does not affect your ability to complete certification as long as you are able to work with your trainer to complete the assignments.

You may resume training at any time by logging in on our website, accessing your account and billing information, and making a new payment. Please contact us if you have any issues accessing your account or setting up a new payment subscription.

There are no penalties or reactivation fees for returning to your training. Our flat, monthly subscription fee of $30/month is all you will ever pay while your training account is active.

No, you are able to resume where you left off, if for any reason you have had to take a break from your training. You are not penalized for pausing your training. However, if you have been away for a while, we might recommend that you review parts of your training.

Certification through New Beginnings Doula Training is valid for 2 years from the date of Certificate Issuance. After that, your certification may be renewed for an additional 2 years. When you are ready to renew your doula certification, log in to your account on our website and navigate to “Renewal” in the Programs tab in the top menu. Please contact us with any additional questions.

Birth doula certification renewal in 2025 and 2026 is set up as a course that includes all changes and updates that have been made to the New Beginnings Birth Doula curriculum over the last year as we have been improving the program. After 2026, all certificates may be renewed every two years by completing 20 continuing education credits, completing one birth packet, agreeing to our Scope of Practice and Code of Ethics, and paying a renewal fee of $50. Continuing education requirements and options are explained in more detail on the Renewal page you can access after logging in to your account on our website.

The cost for renewing your doula certification is $50 USD. You may need to pay for continuing education courses to meet our renewal requirements, and there is a list of free and low cost CEU options on the Renewal page you can access when you log in to your account.

We currently offer Birth Doula and Postpartum Doula certification. Anyone who registers for training will have access to both programs and can decide which program(s) to work on. We have plans to expand with additional programs in the future.

No. Our curriculum is more comprehensive than most other doula training programs. With our emphasis on research, the work performed while training with New Beginnings is unique to our programs. However, prior training from other workshops or organizations may help you be more familiar with concepts presented in our training, and can help you complete our program more quickly than students who have no prior training. All assignments must be submitted and completed to demonstrate competency in the topics that are covered.

No, New Beginnings Doula Training is an independent training organization and is one of the pioneers in online doula certification. DONA functions differently than we do, giving other trainers permission to use their training materials and certify under their brand name.
Full Explanation »