Ethics
I recieved a call from wonderfully ambitious doula who is a friend of mine. She, along five other doulas, have spent countless hours putting together and promoting a non-profit doula organization designed to promote and refer doula services within her city and surrounding areas. They have incorporated as a non-profit within their province, opened an office where they can meet clients and teach them, and pooled their resources to further the doula profession very professionally.

In conversation she told me that a doula in her area, who is not part of this group, has chosen to take their idea, rename it and start her own referral business.

My friend is not bothered at all with what this doula is doing, beyond the concern that she is giving doulas a less-than-reputable name. We both believe that the more doulas available to support women, the better off the community.

This doula has chosen not to work cooperatively with other professional doulas in her city, and that is fine. My heart goes out to her as she struggles to promote herself given the name she has made for herself as being strange and in-your-face. Marketing to expectant parents takes certain finesse, a give and take that builds trust... a vital component in a doula/client relationship. She has told potential clients about her being the only doula in the city, which is obviously not true and she is well aware of that. This only confuses potential clients and instantly builds distrust. I wonder what she is thinking as she continues along this route. She would do well to explore ethics in her future business plans.