Our Founders

We are Jared and Kaara, the co-founders of Authentic Marriages, a faith-based, relationship ministry, designed to promote emotionally and spiritually healthy marriages globally. Jared is a double boarded, licensed Adult, Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist and Relationship Coach. Kaara is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Relationship Coach with experience in individual and couples therapy with a specialization in healing emotional trauma. Together we bring over 20 years of combined professional experience in the mental health field working with individuals, families and couples using evidenced-based interventions.

In our society it is not uncommon to find couples that are secretly suffering in unhappy marriages. Pride, fear of rejection and public humiliation prevents us from speaking our truth in an authentic way. Discussing challenges in marital relationships openly and honestly is often avoided. This subculture unintentionally creates an unsafe environment for couples to be vulnerable with friends, family and even those in the church! It leaves couples alienated and left to suffer silently in their marriages. When you live a lie or present a false narrative of your marriage, you inherently have an inauthentic marriage. This adds even more stress to an already overwhelming situation. 

Here at Authentic Marriages we strive to keep it REAL! Simply speaking, nothing is off limits!  We don’t want to present a fairytale version of marriage but rather a realistic view of the blessings and challenges that every marriage may face. We hope to discuss topics that touch the core of people’s marriages even if it is difficult or uncomfortable to engage. Our goal is to equip couples with the tools needed to help their marriage become happy, healthy and holy. 

What makes us different?

In one word…authentic. Being authentic is a value we hold in high esteem. We have seen and heard so many couples say, “We thought it was just us! We felt so alone…We didn’t know anyone else struggling with their relationship.” Raise your hand if you can relate? Me too!! Growing up in the Caribbean, we were taught, “Don’t air your dirty laundry in public.” In other words, no one must know your personal problems. While there is some wisdom in not parading your problems to everyone out there, our culture inadvertently taught us not to seek professional help when we needed it! Therefore, it was commonplace to find many couples suffering silently, most believing they were the only ones with issues…Thus creating a feeling of even more alienation and unnecessary suffering. 

Our goal is to break those barriers of silence and avoidable pain and suffering in relationships. We want you to have the marriage you dreamed of! We believe with the right tools, practice and time, you can have a thriving and fulfilling marriage. We are not selling a quick fix program or an unrealistic dream. We believe that emotional healing takes time. We believe that most marriages can recover from even the most difficult circumstance with the right support. And we are here to offer you that support in a safe environment! 

We believe learning must be fun! This is not your run of the mill boring marriage duo. We believe that having fun should be a key ingredient to life. So we bring the fun, laughs and games with us at all of our events! So when you join us, expect to learn, expect to be challenged but also expect to have a good time!

More About Us

Want to know more boring stuff about us!?…Read on if you wish! 

We have been together for 21 years and happily married for 16 years! We have two energetic kids ages 7 and 10.  Born and raised in the Caribbean (Jamaica and Trinidad), we now call Atlanta GA “home.” As you can probably tell, we are passionate about marriages and helping couples realize their full potential in their relationships. Together, we bring over 20 years of professional experience combined with a strong spiritual background in our work with couples. Kaara is a licensed clinical social work specializing in trauma and couples. Kaara is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jared graduated from Duke University School of Medicine and obtained a dual degree in medicine and Masters in Psychology. Jared went on to complete his Residency and Fellowship at Duke University Medical Center. Today Jared is a practicing Child, Adolescent and Adult Psychiatrist and Kaara has a private practice where she sees couples remotely via tele-therapy. Both are trained to provide individual and couples therapy and use various therapeutic models such as Emotionally Focused Therapy (for couples) and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy (EMDR).