Keynote SpeakerNaif Al-Mutawa

Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, is an award-winning serial founder & entrepreneur, clinical psychologist, clinical sexologist and clinical hypnotherapist. He is the founder of Socoon Clinic for Professional Therapy and Assessment, Kuwait’s leading professional source of psychological services and founder of Neuropsychcare, Kuwait’s first Neuropsychology Center. Dr. Naif is also the founder of Tenweem, the first Arabic hypnotherapy application and the cofounder of Tuhoon, a mental health tech company.

A licensed psychologist in the State of New York, Dubai, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and Kuwait, he has extensive experience working with adolescents, adults, couples and families. He is a member of the American Psychological Association, and American Association of Sexuality Educators, Counselors and Therapists (AASECT).

As a clinical hypnotherapist, he underwent training at the New York Milton H. Ericsson Society for Psychotherapy and Hypnosis (NYSEPH), and has been certified by and is a member of both the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and the National Guild of Hypnotists. He is an approved Albert Ellis Institute Rational Emotive & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Supervisor and is a member of their board of directors and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Rational Emotive and Cognitive Therapies.

An Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology, Dr. Naif is a member of the academic staff at Kuwait University’s Faculty of Medicine, where he has been teaching clinical psychology, communication skills and cognitive behavioral therapy since 2005. He is also a former Chief Psychotherapy Training Supervisor at the Kuwait Psychiatric Hospital. Dr. Naif is also certified in perinatal medicine mental health by PSI International and will be completing his certificate in psychadelic assisted therapy with Mind Medicine Australia in July 2025.

Dr. Naif has a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Long Island University where he also earned a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology. He was awarded a second doctorate (an honorary one) by Long Island University in May 2019 and a third doctorate in Clinical Sexology from the Modern Sex Therapy Institute in 2021. He holds a Masters in Organizational Psychology from Teacher’s College, Columbia University and an MBA, also from Columbia University. He holds a certification in conflict resolution from Columbia University. He earned his undergraduate degree from Tufts University, where he triple majored in clinical psychology, English literature and history.

Dr. Naif has extensive clinical experience working with former prisoners of war in Kuwait and the Survivors of Political Torture unit of Bellevue Hospital in New York. He has seen first-hand the cancer that intolerance can bring to any society. His direct contact with the horrors of people tortured because of their religious and political beliefs, led to his writing a timeless children’s tale that won a UNESCO Prize for Literature in the Service of Tolerance.

A serial entrepreneur, Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa is the creator of THE 99, the first group of comic superheroes born of an Islamic archetype. THE 99 has received positive attention from the world’s media. Forbes named THE 99 as one of the Top 20 Trends Sweeping the Globe and named Dr Naif as one of the 7 most influential designers in the world. President Barack Obama praised Dr. Naif and THE 99 as perhaps the most innovative of the thousands of new entrepreneurs viewed by his Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.

A highly acclaimed keynote speaker in topics ranging from mental health to entrepreneurship, Dr. Naif conducts regular talks and workshops in creative problem solving, attention management, stress management, conflict resolution, and anger management and has been sought after by private companies and governments alike to train their employees.

For 10 years he was on the investment committee of Kuwait’s National Fund for Small and Medium Sized Businesses, a fund of $7 billion dollars is earmarked to promote entrepreneurship in Kuwait, a former member of the Kuwait Supreme Education Council and a member of the Board of Directors of the Albert Ellis Institute. He is a former board member of Future Kids, a publicly listed company on the Kuwait Stock Exchange, and Al-Jazeera Entertainment.