A lot of the previously posted reasons apply to me...money, paperwork, time constraints. Also, I don't want people to choose my services because of letters behind my name, or because I am affiliated with a certain organization or another. I want them to choose me because I am who I am, because we click, because I can give them the attention and care they are looking for. I don't think certification is a bad thing, but I sometimes wonder why we need to be *certified* to do some things that, to me, are just second nature for most women anyway, esp when it comes to being a doula. Sure, it helps to have some concrete background knowledge about the physiology of birth, etc, but what it really comes down to (for me, at least), is being that woman's support. Do we need to be certified to know how to wipe a woman's brow, to whisper encouragement, to lift her spirits, to help her find her strength? Doulas do what mothers, grandmothers, sisters, friends have done throughout time, without paying hundreds of dollars for training and certification and without a governing body directing their care. I love being a doula, but similar to what someone else said in another thread, I wish there was no need for professional doulas in the first place. The doula movement has been great for a lot of women, but it says a lot about our birth culture when we have classes and organizations devoted to doing the things that the family and community wise women would have done, before birth moved out of the home and into the hospital.