Frequently Asked Questions

You can find our careers page and our application form here!

We currently offer in-person birth and postpartum doula services in Vancouver’s Lower Mainland, Victoria, Squamish and Bowen Island BC, as well as Calgary Alberta.

A birth doula’s care is focused primarily around your labor and the time directly before and after, whereas a postpartum doula will step in once your baby has arrived and can keep supporting your family for months afterward. Every birth doula’s package is a little different, but they generally will offer 1-3 prenatal and 1-3 postpartum visits, on top of attending the birth. Birth doulas also often offer their own resources, tools, and specialties to support your family in the birth space and beyond. Postpartum doulas can be booked for as many shifts as you need, and can customize their care to suit your family’s needs.

We’ve had families book anywhere from 1 shift to 6 months of full-time care! The length of your contract all depends on what works best for you and your budget*. There’s no minimum or maximum when it comes to booking care, although we do prioritise families who are in their first 3 months postpartum. If you’d like help deciding on how much care you may need, book a Meet Brood call and we’d be happy to share more insight.

There’s a lot of crossover in these two fields, as both doulas and midwives can provide emotional support, evidence-based education, and family advocacy to birthing folks and their communities. However, midwives are medically trained and equipped to deliver your baby, and will primarily be focused on the health of the birthing parent and their baby.  Doulas, on the other hand, are there to provide extensive care for your whole family, including helping you around your home as you adjust to having a new family member.

This depends on a lot of factors and will be different for every family, and many folks book a mixture of the two. Some things to consider include: 

• Will you have a partner or support person home with you full time for the first few weeks? If not, at what times will you be solo?
• Will you be healing from a c-section birth, or do you have mobility barriers?
• Do you have a history of postpartum anxiety or depression? 
• How confident do you feel with baby care basics?
• Are there folks in your community who will be helping out? What are their schedules like?

As always, feel free to contact us if you’d like some help deciding on what type of care is best for you.

For birth support, we split the cost into two instalments, so you can pay for half your doula’s package when you book, and the other half at around 36 weeks gestation. For postpartum support, we invoice every Friday for that week of care. All invoices can be paid by e-transfer to hello@broodcare.com or by credit card. 

In our care portal! You can access your schedule, care notes and profile by logging in with your email and password. The login button is on the top right of our website.

Many of our clients are able to get their doula care reimbursed through extended health benefits or workplace wellness programs. While coverage varies by provider and plan, we regularly see successful claims with benefits like Sun Life, Manulife, Canada Life, Pacific Blue Cross, and Carrot. We’ll provide you with detailed receipts that include the necessary information for your claim, and we can guide you through the process using our insurance coverage guide.

We will always do our best to accommodate changes to your schedule, while ensuring our doulas maintain as much work as they need to make above living wage. When you book with us, we’ll send you our postpartum contract which includes our cancellation policy. While we can’t guarantee our team will have the availability to accommodate added shifts, we will always do everything in our power to get you the level of care you deserve.

We understand that babies arrive on their own schedule and that due dates are just estimated. We’re used to making adjustments based on your arrival timeline. Just keep in touch with us as you near your due date, and we’ll always do our best to accommodate your shifting needs.

When you reach out to book a postpartum doula, we’ll ask you some questions to get a better sense of your family and the care you’re seeking. Based on your answers, we’ll connect you with a doula(s) that we think would be a good match based on:

• Availability
• Vicinity
• Any relevant experience in similar lifestyle, culture, identity, or practice
• Relevant care specializations
• Any other preferences you’ve shared with us

Absolutely! In fact, we encourage you to meet with multiple birth doulas to get a better sense of who you feel the most comfortable and confident with. Our meet and greets are complimentary, and you can chat with any doulas with availability around your estimated due date. 

If you book postpartum care prenatally, we offer one complimentary Brood Foundations Visit with your postpartum doula(s) at around 36 weeks gestation. This visit is about 2 hours long, and takes place in your home (or over Zoom if you’re more comfortable with that.) It’s a chance for you and your doula(s) to get to know one another better, for them to learn their way around your home, and for you to share any pertinent information and preferences regarding your postpartum care.

Absolutely! We love seeing folks support their friends and family this way –  and we know from experience it’s one of the most valuable gifts you can give a new family. Contact us here and we can chat with you about  the options!

You can find our Covid-19 and illness policies here. These are based on the most current Information and local guidelines, and are updated regularly.

The Agency Fee is a one-time payment that helps us provide you with best-in-class family care. This includes the pairing and scheduling process, finding backup doula support in case of illness or emergency, and the collection and maintenance of our extensive resource collection, found in our Family Portal. The fee also allows us to provide our doulas with ongoing mentorship, further training, and informative workshops to make sure the care they provide is always up to date and top notch.

We currently do not offer any services other than birth and postpartum doula care. However, if you’re struggling to find practitioners, feel free to reach out to us and we can send you some recommendations. Alternatively, if you’re a family currently in care, you can find lots of suggested resources in our Family Portal.

One of our core beliefs is that every family deserves unbiased, trauma-informed, and inclusive care that is both affordable and accessible. To make this goal a reality, we’re currently working on setting up a Brood Equity program. This will offer queer, trans, Black, Indigenous, and people of the global majority families financial assistance in accessing birth support. In the meantime, feel free to reach out to us if financial barriers are keeping you from accessing care, and we’ll do our best to support you accessing resources. 

Midwives provide essential medical care throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. Doulas offer continuous emotional, physical, and informational support alongside that medical care. While your midwife may be focused on clinical needs and may not be with you for your entire labour, your doula is there just for you—supporting your comfort, confidence, and advocacy every step of the way. Many families choose to have both for a more complete circle of care.

All of our courses are self paced, meaning you can stop, start, and go back as much as you’d like. While they vary in size and density, the courses each have an average of 26 course material handouts, and 14 short videos.

You’ll have access to your online course purchases for 2 years.

Yes, and it makes an excellent gift. In order to do so, be sure to go to the courses page and click GIFT NOW. This will take you to a specially designed page where you can purchase a course for a loved one!