Why Doulas Are Burned Out (and How AI Can Actually Help)
A doula sitting at her desk looking frustrated

In this post, you’ll learn:

  • Why admin work is quietly draining doulas faster than births themselves

  • How AI and automation can support your care (not replace it)

  • Simple ways to get time and energy back without losing your personal touch

  • How to use AI to write faster and show up more consistently on social media 

If you’re a doula who feels like you’re doing everything except the part you love most, you’re not alone.

And no, you’re not “bad at business.” Not even close.

You’re just buried under hours of:

  • Sending the same emails again and again

  • Manually tracking payments, dates, and mileage

  • Rebuilding forms, check-ins, and follow-ups from scratch

Meanwhile, the part of your work that actually matters, the part that needs your presence, intuition, and emotional bandwidth, keeps getting pushed to the side.

You know what’s really burning doulas out? It’s not the births.
It’s the invisible workload of running a business without real support.

And here’s the truth: you were never meant to do it all manually.

AI and Automation Aren’t Replacing Doulas, They’re Supporting Us

You know what makes you irreplaceable? Your presence. Your energy.
Your ability to hold space, read a room, and guide families through one of the most vulnerable times of their lives.

That’s something no tool can touch.

But the admin? The forms, the follow-ups, the “oops, I forgot to send that”?
That stuff can be systemized, ethically, intentionally, and in ways that still sound like you.

Not to cut corners. Not to sound robotic.

But to give you your time back. To give you your capacity back.
To give you your evenings, your boundaries, and your brain space, so you can show up for your clients with more presence and less panic.

Because let’s be honest: doing it all by hand doesn’t make you a better doula.

It just makes you an exhausted one. (Ask me how I know.)

It’s Not About Scaling, It’s About Sustainability

Maybe you only have a few clients right now, and it feels manageable.
That actually makes now the perfect time to build systems that can grow with you.

Because once you’re fully booked, it’s too late to start thinking about automation, that’s when things slip through the cracks. That’s when burnout creeps in.

And listen, automation doesn’t mean giving your business to robots.

It means:

  • Writing a welcome email once and never rewriting it again

  • Sending milestone reminders automatically based on due dates

  • Having a system that tracks who’s paid, who needs follow-up, and who might’ve ghosted

It means less late-night admin and more space to actually do the work you love.

Yes, AI Can Help You Write, If You Teach It to Sound Like You

Most doulas don’t struggle because they lack ideas.
They struggle because:

  • They’re too tired to write consistently

  • They’re unsure how to organize their thoughts

  • They lose hours tweaking, rewriting, and overthinking

AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini (both have free versions) can help you write faster and show up more regularly, if you give them the right input.

Instead of typing “I’m a doula, write a blog post for me” (please don’t, that’s how you get junk that sounds nothing like you), start with smarter prompts.

Try things like:

  • “What are pregnant people searching for at 20 weeks?”

  • “What are five new angles on this topic I just discussed with a client?”

Feed it de-identified patterns you see in your client work, or use search tools like AnswerThePublic.com to find what real people are asking.
AI helps you turn your lived experience into usable, client-friendly content.

And for the technical stuff? It’s a dream. Meta descriptions, SEO tags, headlines – all the strategic bits that don’t need your emotional energy. That way, you can save your voice for the content your clients actually rave about: “It felt like you were talking directly to me.”

Real Talk: Let AI Help You Show Up on Social (Without Burning Out)

Social media, that’s where so many doulas hit a wall (and honestly, I’ve been there too).

You’re juggling:

  • What do I say?

  • When do I post?

  • How do I stay consistent if I’m at a birth?

Here’s the strategy that’s actually worked for me:

Step 1: Mine your real conversations. Write down the questions clients ask you all the time.

Examples:

  • “What should I ask my OB about induction?”

  • “How do I prep for postpartum without family nearby?”

Step 2: Drop those questions into ChatGPT or Gemini and say:

  • “Give me 5 TikTok video ideas that answer this in a relatable or educational way.”

  • “Turn this into an Instagram carousel with 5 slides.”

Step 3: Batch and schedule. Use Meta Business Suite or Later to line up your posts.

You don’t need to be online when they publish – you could be supporting a birth while your content quietly does its job.

You’re still the voice. AI just helps you stop overthinking and start showing up.

Not Sure Where to Start? Try One Low-Lift Win

You don’t need fancy tools or a tech degree to automate something today.

Pick one of these:

  • Use Scheduled Send in Gmail to write a message now and have it show up later when it’s actually relevant (game-changer).

  • Create a free Google Form for your client intake. It looks professional, keeps all your info in one place, and saves you from digging through DMs.

Start small. Get one win. Build from there.

I’ve Spent Months Building Something for Us

This Black Friday, I’m finally releasing something built by a doula, for doulas.
It’s designed to help you get your time, energy, and sanity back — without sacrificing the heart of your work.

Using AI tools that work quietly behind the scenes, it supports your rhythm instead of replacing it.

Get ready – it’s almost here.
Black Friday. I can’t wait to share what’s comin

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