If you have been looking into doula training, you have probably noticed that prices vary a lot. A quick search will turn up programmes ranging from a couple of hundred pounds to well over two thousand. That range reflects genuine differences in what you get — and understanding those differences matters before you decide.
Here is an honest breakdown.
At the lower end, you will find short online courses — often self-paced, covering the basics of birth support, sometimes certificate-based. These can work as introductions, but they are not the same as comprehensive professional training.
At the mid to higher end, you are looking at programmes that go deeper: longer durations, smaller cohorts, qualified trainers with significant experience, ongoing support post-qualification, and a curriculum that covers the full scope of what doula work actually requires. These typically sit between £1,000 and £2,500.
Abuela Doulas training costs £1,600.
The Abuela Doulas programme is led by Mars Lord: doula, birth activist and trainer with over 20 years of experience , alongside guest practitioners from across birthwork, advocacy, perinatal mental health and infant feeding.
The curriculum includes scope and role of a doula; birth systems and power, the maternity system, the race divide in healthcare, where doulas fit; pregnancy support and birth preparation; birth support in practice; postnatal support, recovery and safety; infant feeding, including breastfeeding and chest feeding; working with loss and bereavement; perinatal mental health; consent, informed choice and advocacy; and business sustainability, the practical reality of working as a doula.
The training runs in small, intimate cohorts. Formats available: cohort, self-paced and hybrid. Graduates join an ongoing community that includes virtual meetups and mentoring from experienced practitioners. That community does not close when the course ends, people who trained in 2020 are still showing up for each other.
Here is where the value question gets real.
Graduates from Abuela Doulas have built independent practices, run community groups for parents in the postnatal period, worked with birth justice organisations, and created space specifically for Black birth folk and non-binary parents. One graduate manages MS and a family alongside her doula work. Another came in as a trained midwife and spent the programme unlearning clinical assumptions that were getting in the way of truly inclusive care.
These are not outcomes you get from a weekend certificate.
When people ask whether doula training is worth the cost, they are usually asking something more specific: will I get clients? Will I be able to build a practice? Will this change anything?
Those are fair questions, and they do not have guaranteed answers; doula work requires building relationships, trust, and visibility. The training gives you the foundation. The practice is yours to build.
But here is another way to frame the cost question: what does it cost your community when the doulas they need are not there?
Black and brown families in the UK face disproportionate risk in the maternity system. Doulas who understand that reality, who have been trained with a justice lens, who know the system and how to work within it, are not just a personal career choice. They are a community resource.
Abuela Doulas does not pretend that £1,600 is nothing. If the cost is a real barrier and the call is real reach out. A conversation costs nothing.
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Abuela Doulas recognises that as well as doing the work, they need to support the work of others. With that in mind, here are some links to support not only us, but other organisations that we are involved in.
