Madriella is much less expensive than other Doula certification programs, and this is part of our mission. The traditional role of Doula certifying agencies is to charge a lot of money ($400-$1,200) to certify a few “professionals” who can go out and then charge women a lot of money for their services.
While we have no issue with professional Doulas (most of our members do charge for their services) the mission of Madriella is to support women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, and to support each other while we do it.
We want to see all women take this course, not just those that want to run their own Doula business. We believe that all women should have birthing and mothering skills, not just those that can afford expensive trainings.
The American Red Cross charges as little as possible for their CPR courses because they want as many people to have access to it as possible, and that makes sense. We know that more people are going to give birth than have heart attacks, so why should a Doula program charge so much for training that most women can’t afford it?
To offset the cost of the program we use our members for affiliate advertising (meaning all women in Madriella can be paid to advertise the program) and our approved workshop providers can set their own prices for their hands-on training. This allows them to adjust the cost of learning based on the local economy. Our Advisory Board, which is composed of some of the most wonderful, dedicated and knowledgeable women in the Doula business, are all volunteers. They serve Madriella because they are passionate about the Doula profession and they want to see it grow!
