Transform Your Doula Passion Into a Doula Career with these books by Carrie Kenner

Essential Reads for Every Doula

Training Books

Workbooks

Journals

So You Want to Be a Doula

The Indispensable Guide to Match You to Your Perfect Doula Career

You want to be a doula. I want you to be a doula. In this book, you will learn the exact steps to take to become a doula, without making expensive or time-wasting mistakes.

You'll answer questions like: Will being a doula fit into my lifestyle? There are over 26 different doula roles to choose from. Discover which doula role (or roles) will be a perfect match for you.

Which doula training should I choose? Whether you are choosing from twenty different options or just one, learn how to research and assess training programs to select the one that you’ll actually complete.

Can I make enough money to support myself as a doula? Find out how to determine market demand and income potential, and how to launch a successful doula career.
Click to read more...

In So You Want to Be a Doula you'll discover my unique framework for preparing doulas so you can:

Determine which doula role is a good fit for you and your current lifestyle
Find a doula training that matches your learning style and that you will complete
Prepare you to get your doula career off to a good start so you are ready to get clients and create a successful business

Part 1: Figure out what kind of doula role is best suited for you.

Match your interests, skills, and lifestyle to one (or more) of 26 different doula roles. For example, you may be fascinated by birth but have young children at home. Can you be on call and leave your kids at a moment’s notice to go to a birth? If you want to help people navigate the court system, are you available to support them during their court session if you have a day job?

In So You Want to Be a Doula, you will:

Learn the requirements of each doula role.
Understand the who/what/where/when/what/how of each doula role
Prepare for the emotional, physical, spiritual, and mental aspects of your doula role

Use the Career Assessment, Interest Assessment, Lifestyle Assessment, and Doula-bility Calculator to find the perfect doula role for you now. And, if other roles interest you, you’ll know how to add to or pivot your doula career in the future.

Part 2: Find the best training for you.

You want a training you’ll actually enjoy, right? Don’t take the first training that pops up on your internet search. Instead, understand your preferred style of learning and training program preferences to choose a doula training you’ll actually learn from and complete.

In So You Want to Be a Doula, you will:

Determine how you learn best to set yourself up for success
Learn how to assess the features of a training program
Know what to look for to make sure a training is comprehensive

Use the Learning Style Assessment, Doula Training Preferences, Training Tracking Sheet, and Find-a-Training Tool to identify your top three training options, select the one you will use, and sign up now. And if you can’t find a training to your liking, you’ll learn about alternatives to taking a doula training course.

Part 3: Start getting clients and launch your career.

Now that you’re trained—in fact, even before you’re trained—you’ll need to know how to start your doula business. Did you know there are different business models, legal structures, and other details you need to decide on?

In So You Want to Be a Doula, you will:

Learn how to start and build your doula business
Know how to find clients and interview with them to get hired
Learn about the systems (marketing, financial, self-care, and more) that will make your business hum

You’ll know what you have to do to be a successful doula while you are learning to become one. This is the best defense against learning how to be a doula but not doing it!

So You Want to Be a Doula includes 8 worksheets to assess your unique qualities and needs:

Career Assessment

Interest Assessment

Lifestyle Assessment

Doula-bility Calculator

Learning Style Assessment

Doula Training Preferences

Training Tracking Sheet

Find-a-Training Tool

Learn how to avoid these common mistakes other aspiring doulas have made:

Mistake #1: Too many times, people want to be a doula without knowing what it entails. This book will give you a realistic understanding of multiple doula roles to find the one you can succeed in.

Mistake #2: People spend thousands of dollars on doula trainings that don’t provide what they need in a format they can digest. I’ll show you how to assess and choose a training that you’ll actually learn from and complete.

Mistake #3: For decades, doulas have struggled to create a successful career because they didn’t know they’d have to start a business or they didn't know how to. I wrote Part 4: Preparing for a Doula Career in this book to change all that.

The world desperately needs doulas! And the doula world needs YOU! Buy So You Want to Be as Doula today and get started on changing the world…and your own life.

BUY ON KINDLE

BUY ON AMAZON

“Carrie Kenner is a font of wisdom and a beacon for authenticity. So You Want to Be a Doula helps anyone hearing the call to become a doula to step forward on their path with deep discernment, a solid reality check, and full preparation for the juicy self-transformation that takes place on this journey. Just in time, Carrie's decades of experience, through an era of ongoing radical evolution in the field, poises her to offer this conscious, intellectual, and spiritual perspective imbued throughout her book. It is the manual I can only wish was available when I started to follow my own calling. [...] Discover in these pages the specific and even unexpected roles you can fill as a doula. With this book, readers will find an informed, affirming, and wholly inclusive handbook for a strong start and expansive outlook; a profound inspiration for the significant ways their work will change the world for the better; and a gleaming celebration of being oneself.”

— Veronica Malki, retired doula

“Where was this book when I started my doula business? Even as an experienced doula, this book offers insight to more than just taking a class and hanging out your shingle. So You Want to Be a Doula is eye opening! Who knew there were so many doula roles? Evidently Carrie does and she brings her years of experience to this book. The easy-to-use tools in this book provide an invaluable look into the doula world; helping you understand the different roles, financial commitment and time commitment, and how that impacts a doula’s overall lifestyle. [...] This book has tools that will save a new doula hours of internet surfing and frustration in starting their business. Every aspect of being a doula is touched on in So You Want to be A Doula. Bravo to you Carrie for pulling everything together for the new doula.”

— Jennifer Hirayama, retired doula

“So You Want to Be a Doula will set you on the correct path for your life's work to becoming the supportive guide for anyone in your communities. This guide is a must have and very easy to follow and to gain clarity on your next steps to becoming the type of doula that fits your strengths. Keep it close at hand.”

— Lisa A. M. Tankersley, Relationship Coach

“So You Want to Be a Doula offers a comprehensive and accessible guide for those considering the doula profession. [...] One of the strengths of the book is its practical approach, offering insights into the day-to-day aspects of doula work, including working with healthcare professionals, self-care for doulas, and building a sustainable doula practice. For aspiring doulas, this book is helpful in navigating the challenges of the profession. [...]

So You Want to Be a Doula is an excellent starting point for those looking to explore the profession, offering both foundational knowledge and practical advice for becoming a compassionate and effective doula.”

— Heather Geiser, RMT, E-RYT200®, RYT500®, YACEP®

“So You Want to Be a Doula fully equips and helps the reader figure out what type of doula they need to be, what type of training that will work best for them, and encourages them to apply all that they learn into action to make this world a better place with their personal skill sets and knowledge. The included worksheets are easy and quick to use to create a detailed plan of action to help move one forward to being able to apply all that is covered. I truly enjoyed the quick, easy, and straightforward read and I’m excited to apply my newfound knowledge.”

— Stephanie Zegers

“This is an excellent read. Very “to the point” while taking you there with concise clarity. I loved how every chapter added to the information from the previous chapter. A very clear pathway, beginning with the mustard seed of “being an advocate” all the way to building a successful business with endless possibilities to thrive. I appreciated the breakdown of the different doula pathways. Providing evidence-based support with an empathetic lens is not only for the birth community or for end of life services; there are so many ways DOULAS can support our communities.”

— Makeda (Akoma) Robinson, House of Akoma Holistic Services

BUY NOW

The Becoming a Doula Journal

Tracking your journey from aspiration to accomplishment. A companion guide for any doula's journey.

How can following the call to become a doula change the world, and transform you in the process?

That is the question you will be guided to answer in this companion journal to So You Want to Be a Doula and Becoming a Birth Doula (2025).

Filled with invaluable insights into the doula role and the process of becoming a doula, Carrie will guide you through your past, present, and future as you pursue your doula career.
Click to read more...

The Becoming a Doula Journal provides journal prompts and exercises to help you explore:

Your desire to become a doula
Your ancestors and allies
Your personal doula journey
Your beliefs and conditioning
The politics of being a doula
The doula lifestyle
Working with challenging staff
Coping skills for yourself and your clients
Doula education and training
Starting a doula business

Becoming a doula is so much more than attending a doula training. Use this guide to prepare and deepen your heart, spirit, and soul for your amazing future of doula work.

The Doula Success Formula

How to get more clients to hire you

A lot of people want to be a doula but don’t have any clients.

A lot of doulas have a few clients here and there, but the work is not steady, and they’re not satisfied.

Or, some doulas have lots of clients, but they don’t enjoy working with them, so they’re unhappy.

You’ll only feel successful when you have as many “right” clients as you want. Clients give you the experience, the income, and the freedom to live the “doula lifestyle” that is the hallmark of a successful doula.

Here’s my formula for how to create that kind of success...
Click to read more...

BUY NOW

So You Want to Be a Doula will set you on the correct path for your life's work to becoming the supportive guide for anyone in your communities. This guide is a must have and very easy to follow and to gain clarity on your next steps to becoming the type of doula that fits your strengths. Keep it close at hand.

— Lisa A. M. Tankersley, Relationship Coach

This is an excellent read. Very “to the point” while taking you there with concise clarity. I loved how every chapter added to the information from the previous chapter. A very clear pathway, beginning with the mustard seed of “being an advocate” all the way to building a successful business with endless possibilities to thrive. I appreciated the breakdown of the different doula pathways. Providing evidence-based support with an empathetic lens is not only for the birth community or for end of life services; there are so many ways DOULAS can support our communities.

— Makeda (Akoma) Robinson, House of Akoma Holistic Services

Carrie Kenner is a font of wisdom and a beacon for authenticity. So You Want to Be a Doula helps anyone hearing the call to become a doula to step forward on their path with deep discernment, a solid reality check, and full preparation for the juicy self-transformation that takes place on this journey. Just in time, Carrie's decades of experience, through an era of ongoing radical evolution in the field, poises her to offer this conscious, intellectual, and spiritual perspective imbued throughout her book. It is the manual I can only wish was available when I started to follow my own calling. [...] Discover in these pages the specific and even unexpected roles you can fill as a doula. With this book, readers will find an informed, affirming, and wholly inclusive handbook for a strong start and expansive outlook; a profound inspiration for the significant ways their work will change the world for the better; and a gleaming celebration of being oneself.

— Veronica Malki, retired doula

So You Want to Be a Doula fully equips and helps the reader figure out what type of doula they need to be, what type of training that will work best for them, and encourages them to apply all that they learn into action to make this world a better place with their personal skill sets and knowledge. The included worksheets are easy and quick to use to create a detailed plan of action to help move one forward to being able to apply all that is covered. I truly enjoyed the quick, easy, and straightforward read and I’m excited to apply my newfound knowledge.

— Stephanie Zegers

Where was this book when I started my doula business? Even as an experienced doula, this book offers insight to more than just taking a class and hanging out your shingle. So You Want to Be a Doula is eye opening! Who knew there were so many doula roles? Evidently Carrie does and she brings her years of experience to this book. The easy-to-use tools in this book provide an invaluable look into the doula world; helping you understand the different roles, financial commitment and time commitment, and how that impacts a doula’s overall lifestyle. [...] This book has tools that will save a new doula hours of internet surfing and frustration in starting their business. Every aspect of being a doula is touched on in So You Want to be A Doula. Bravo to you Carrie for pulling everything together for the new doula.

— Jennifer Hirayama, retired doula