What does your money go towards?

There are a number of factors that determine why I charge the way that I do…

  1. In order to be the most informed and educated I can be, I am constantly pouring into my education. By expanding my knowledge in all things pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, I’m able to better serve my clientele.

  2. This is a full-time job for me, and in order to serve the community I live in, having enough of a living wage is crucial.

  3. Equipment (i.e. birth balls, herbal sitz baths, homeopathic tools and remedies, etc)

  4. Parking and gas can add up as I drive to and from prenatals and hospital visits.

  5. I’m dedicated to providing low-or-no-cost care to families that find themselves disproportionately impacted by medical neglect & abuse due to racism, classism, and other implicit provider biases. Clients who pay for my services indirectly allow this birth justice mission to manifest!

My rate remains the same regardless of when you hire me as your doula, so I always recommend hiring a doula as early as you can so you have the full attention and support for a longer period of time.

Sliding Scale

The framing of economic accessibility is important but it’s not the whole story. I have a conversation about my sliding scale with all of my clients, including those who are at the top of the scale.

What I tell all of my clients in person and what I’ll tell you here is that, for me, the sliding scale is also about trust. I understand that hiring me means trusting me with an incredibly intimate part of her life. Offering a sliding scale is one way I express trust in my clients: I trust that they have thought about the value of my support and also that they are experts in their own finances and can come to a decision that reflects both.

Sliding scales acknowledge that people are more than their financial reality and that we don't need to be ashamed to talk about money.

Where do you fall?

    • You are comfortably able to meet all of your *basic needs

    • You may have some debt but it does not prohibit attainment of basic needs

    • You own a home or property OR rent a higher-end property

    • You own or lease a car

    • You have regular access to health care

    • You have access to financial savings

    • You have an expendable* income

    • You can always buy new items

    • You can afford an annual vacation or take time off

    • You may stress about meeting your basic needs but still regularly achieve them

    • You may have some debt but it doesn’t prohibit attainment of basic needs

    • You own or lease a car

    • You are employed

    • You have access to health care

    • You may have access to financial savings

    • You have some expendable income

    • You are able to buy some new items & thrift others

    • You can take vacation annually or every few years without financial burden

    • You frequently stress about meeting basic needs & don’t always achieve them

    • You have debt and it sometimes prohibits you from meeting your basic needs

    • You rent lower-end properties or have unsustainable living

    • You do not have a car and/or have limited access to a car but are not always able to afford gas

    • You are unemployed or underemployed

    • You qualify for government assistance including food stamps & health care

    • You have no access to savings

    • You have no or very limited expendable income

    • You rarely buy new items because you are unable to afford them

    • You cannot afford a vacation or have the ability to take time off without financial burden

Labor-Trade Agreements & Bartering

I love getting creative with folks about how to align the value they place in having a support person with the resources they have access to. For some, the resource they have is money. For others, they might have access to some money but also have other kinds of resources that they can offer in lieu of or in addition to money.

I’ve worked with women who have been able to offer acupuncture treatments, yoga classes, or other services that they provide as part of their birth fee. I think it’s really magical when I get to exchange services with another practitioner!

Payment Plans

Payment plans are another place where I get to be flexible with clients.
Typically, I ask for a 50% deposit when we sign a contract and the other 50% before 37 weeks when I go on-call. The reality is, 50% can be a lot to have to pay all at once.

  • Sometimes folks can put down 50% for the deposit but could use monthly reminders to space out payments between the deposit and the final payment

  • Sometimes folks need to place a smaller deposit and spread the rest of the payments out over the course of the pregnancy

  • Sometimes unexpected things happen and it just isn’t doable to pay the whole fee before birth and payment happens later

  • Sometimes folks commit to a lower fee and then, if their financial situation changes, reevaluate during pregnancy or before we conclude our postpartum visits

But won’t people take advantage?

I think this is the biggest fear I hear from people thinking about offering sliding scale services.

Lots of us are living in a scarcity framework fueled by capitalism. Thinking about money this much might be scary, might bring up memories of not having enough, might bring up anxieties about what constitutes enough. For lots of us, that scarcity mindset means we might pick a lower price point when given the choice because we are afraid of being without.

The reality is, there are people who could afford to pay a full fee who, when presented with a sliding scale, choose to pay less. Maybe fear kicks in and they do not realize that they do actually have enough. Maybe they feel excited that they got some kind of deal. Maybe they aren’t aware of their own class privilege. It happens.

For some folks, this risk isn’t worth it and I get that. Sliding scales don’t work for everyone. There are emotional and financial risks that lots of folks can’t afford to take.

Does offering a sliding scale mean you will get paid less? Possibly. Many of my clients pay below the typical doula fee in my area. However, my financial situation allows me to work with clients at lower rates without experiencing financial hardship. In fact, I truly enjoy the clients that a flexible fee structure brings into my life!

In my experience, I’m often surprised at just how thoughtful my clients are in thinking about what they can afford and how we can work together to create a package that is fair and accessible.