Doula
Doulas give families continuous physical and emotional support through pregnancy, labour and the first weeks at home.
- Median salary*
- $54,600
4.4%vs last year, before tax
- People employed*
- 1,500
0.0%vs last year
- Projected growth*
- +10%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Low
- automation risk
- Average hours*
- 40/wk
matches all-jobs average
- Shortage status*
- Not in shortage
national
Doulas are non-clinical support workers. They meet a family during pregnancy to talk through what they want from the birth, stay with them through labour, and keep visiting in the early postnatal weeks. The work happens wherever the birth does, at home, in a birth centre or in a hospital, and most doulas are self-employed rather than part of a hospital team.
How much do doulas earn?
The median full-time salary for a doula is $54,600 per annum, before tax, up $11,500 since 2018.
Most doulas are self-employed and charge a package fee per birth, so yearly income depends on how many clients you take on and what you charge each one. A smaller number work for wages in community health, Aboriginal health services or hospital programs, where the hours and income are steadier. Prenatal visits, travel and the weeks you spend on call are rarely billed separately, which shapes what a full-time year actually looks like.
What does a doula do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Meeting expectant parents during pregnancy to talk through birth preferences and the kind of support they want
- Staying with a labouring woman through contractions, offering physical comfort and steady reassurance
- Coaching breathing, positioning and massage techniques as labour progresses
- Helping with early breastfeeding, settling and recovery in the first weeks at home
- Talking through the birth afterwards and writing up notes on what happened, for your own records and the client's
What skills do doulas need?
Employers look for care planning and coordination, counselling and support work, health education and advice, backed by Calendly fluency and strong empathy and interpersonal care.
Specialist skills
- Care planning and coordination
- Counselling and support work
- Health education and advice
Software and tools
- Calendly
- Zoom
- Google Workspace
- Canva
- Pregnancy+
General skills
- Empathy and interpersonal care
- Written communication
- Client relationships and advisory
- Attention to detail
Is the job growing?
About 1,500 people work as doulas in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 10% over the decade to 2035. That's healthy, above-average growth, and the role should stay in solid demand.
How do you become a doula?
Here's the path most doulas take, step by step.
- 1Take a doula training course
Doula work is not regulated in Australia, so there is no licence to obtain, but clients and hospitals expect some training. Courses run by providers such as the Australian Doula College and others range from a few weeks to a year and cover labour support, comfort measures, breastfeeding basics and the business side of the work.
- 2Attend births
Most courses require you to support a set number of births to qualify, so new doulas often start as a backup or second doula for someone more experienced. Volunteering with a community support program is another way to build up births on your record.
- 3Set up the business side
Independent doulas need an ABN, professional indemnity and public liability insurance, current first aid, and a written agreement covering fees, on-call dates and what happens if you are unavailable. This is the part new doulas most often underestimate.
- 4Build referral relationships
Work comes from midwives, birth centres, antenatal educators, GPs and past clients, so the first couple of years are as much about being visible locally as about the births themselves.
- 5Keep training
Breastfeeding counselling, mental health first aid and peer supervision help with the harder parts of the job, and membership of a doula association connects you with others doing the same work.
Ready to apply as a doula?
Whether you're working toward becoming a doula or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a doula move to?
Moving into Art Therapist typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $23,400 a year more on average.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art Therapist Doulas bring emotional support and creative listening skills that suit art therapy, and a degree in art therapy provides the required clinical training. | +$23,400 | 63% | reskill |
| Nutritionist Doulas bring dietary guidance for new mothers and general health coaching, which transfers to nutrition, though a degree is needed to work as a nutritionist. | +$20,800 | 47% | reskill |
| Hypnotherapist Doulas bring deep listening and emotional support skills that suit hypnotherapy, and a short course adds the hypnotic techniques needed for practice. | +$7,800 | 75% | short course |
| Naturopath Doulas bring holistic health support and client education skills that align with naturopathy, though a degree in naturopathy is needed to practise. | +$7,800 | 63% | reskill |
| Reflexologist Doulas bring hands-on comfort and body awareness that suit reflexology, and a diploma adds the specific foot therapy techniques. | +$0 | 63% | reskill |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a doula?
The typical doula is 40 years old; 95% are women, 30% work full-time, and full-timers average 40 hours a week.
- 40
- Median age
- 95%
- Female share
- 30%
- Full-time
- +0h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a doula?
The rhythm of the job is unusual: long stretches of ordinary life interrupted by a birth that can start at any hour. A doula is usually on call for two to four weeks around each due date, then spends several hours or a full day at the birth, followed by postnatal visits over the next few weeks. It suits someone who stays calm under pressure, is comfortable with the messier realities of birth, and is happy to run their own schedule and practice.
What people like
- Continuity that a hospital roster cannot offer. Midwives change shift and hand over, while a doula stays with the same family from early labour through to the first feed, which is often what parents remember most.
- Watching a family find its footing. Postnatal visits are where the work settles: a feed that finally clicks, a parent who trusts their own read on the baby, a household that has found a rhythm.
- Running your own practice. You decide how many clients to take, which weeks you go on call and where you work, and the business grows on your own reputation rather than someone else's roster.
- The range of families and settings. One month you might support a first baby at home, the next a third baby in a birth centre, each with different expectations and different ideas about what support means.
What people find hard
- Living on call. For weeks at a time you stay close to home, sleep lightly and keep your phone on, because labour can start at 3am on the day of a family event.
- Income that moves with your client list. Births clash, babies arrive early or late, and a good deal of the work, including interviews, marketing and travel, is unpaid.
- The emotional weight. You may sit with a family through a long labour, a change of plan or a loss, and carrying that without supervision or boundaries wears people down.
- Physically demanding hours. Supporting someone through contractions means standing, kneeling and leaning for hours at a time, often without real meals or sleep, and the postnatal visits continue after that.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Which industries employ doulas?
Health Care and Social Assistance employs the largest share of doulas, followed by Other Services.
Top employing industries
- 1Health Care and Social Assistance
- 2Other Services
- 3Education and Training
- 4Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 38% | |
|---|---|---|
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 24% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 20% | |
| Postgraduate | 10% | |
| Other | 8% |
Will AI replace doulas?
Doula work has low exposure to AI, because the job is being physically present with a labouring woman for hours at a time, reading her comfort and adjusting hands-on support. Booking systems, video calls and online course material have made the business side easier to run from home, and that is about the limit of it. Nothing in the technology attends a birth or sits with a family through a difficult postnatal week.
Share of typical working time by exposure level
- Continuous labour and birth supportStaying with a woman through contractions means hands-on pressure, positioning, reassurance and reading how she is coping, none of which a tool can do.35%low
- Postnatal visits for feeding and recoveryHelping a parent latch a baby or cope with the first hard weeks depends on being in the room and watching how the two of them respond.25%low
- Antenatal planning and education sessionsTalking through birth preferences is still a conversation, but AI can help draft a birth plan template or explain what an intervention involves in plain language.20%moderate
- Bookings, invoicing, notes and marketingScheduling software, invoicing apps and AI drafting of website copy or social posts take real hours out of the admin that self-employed doulas do at night.20%high
Common questions about becoming a doula
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much do doulas earn?
Doulas earn a median of $54,600 per year before tax, and because most are self-employed that figure moves with how many births they take on each year and what they charge for each one. Doulas employed in community or hospital programs earn a wage instead, which gives them steadier hours but generally less per birth.
How do you become a doula?
There is no licence or registration for doulas in Australia, so the usual path is a doula training course, attending births to complete it, then building your own practice. Providers run short courses and longer certificates, and some doulas add breastfeeding or mental health training to widen what they offer.
Are doulas in demand?
Doulas are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 10% over the decade to 2035 over the decade. Because almost all doula work is self-employed, demand arrives as referrals and repeat bookings rather than advertised vacancies, so your local reputation matters more than the national picture.
Will AI replace doulas?
No. The core of the job is physical presence and emotional support through a long, unpredictable event, which is why the role has low exposure to automation. Software helps with the parts around it, including online bookings, video prenatal sessions, invoicing and client notes.
What is the difference between a doula and a midwife?
Midwives are registered clinicians who monitor the health of mother and baby and carry legal responsibility for clinical care, while doulas provide non-clinical support and never examine anyone or check vital signs. You can hire a doula whether you give birth in a hospital, a birth centre or at home.
What can doulas move into?
Art therapists earn $23,400 more at the median, and the listening and emotional support skills doulas already use are the foundation a degree in art therapy builds on. Hypnotherapy is a shorter step after a short course, and hypnotherapists earn $7,800 more at the median. Since most doulas already run their own practice, and that is often where earnings grow, the common pattern is adding another modality to the business rather than leaving doula work behind.
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