Head Clinical Psychologist | Psychological Counselling | taVNS | Art Therapy
Agnes is the Head Clinical Psychologist at Pesona Jiwa, bringing extensive experience working with both Indonesian and international clients across a wide range of psychological, emotional and behavioural concerns.
As an Indonesian psychologist, Agnes plays an important role in the clinical identity of Pesona Jiwa. Her work reflects both the professional standards of contemporary psychological practice and a deep understanding of Indonesian culture, family systems and the social context in which emotional difficulties are often experienced.
She works fluently in both English and Indonesian and also speaks Mandarin, allowing her to work comfortably with guests from a broad range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
Her experience includes extensive work with both Western and Indonesian clients, which allows her to adapt her communication and therapeutic approach according to the person in front of her rather than expecting every client to fit one cultural or therapeutic model.
At Pesona Jiwa, our approach is deliberately individual. We work with one guest at a time, allowing the clinical team to build the therapeutic programme around the guest’s history, current needs, nervous-system capacity and recovery goals.
Psychological Counselling and Therapy
Agnes works directly with guests through individual psychological counselling sessions. Her role is not simply to focus on symptoms; she helps guests understand the wider patterns behind what they are experiencing.
This may include difficulties connected with trauma and difficult life experiences, chronic stress and burnout, anxiety, emotional regulation, low mood and emotional exhaustion, relationships and attachment patterns, self-esteem and identity, behavioural patterns, life transitions, difficulties with emotional expression, and feeling disconnected or emotionally numb.
Her style is warm, thoughtful and collaborative. Rather than forcing a predetermined therapeutic model onto someone, Agnes works with the individual’s experience and pace. This is particularly important in trauma-informed psychological work.
That principle sits at the heart of our wider Trauma Healing Retreat in Bali and nervous-system work at Pesona Jiwa.
Integrating taVNS Into Psychological Work
Agnes also works with transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) as part of Pesona Jiwa’s developing nervous-system approach. At Pesona Jiwa, taVNS is not treated as a replacement for psychological therapy; it is integrated alongside it.
Rather than separating psychological counselling from nervous-system work, she can incorporate taVNS within a wider therapeutic process where appropriate.
For guests undertaking our 28-Day taVNS Intensive Healing Retreat, this provides continuity between the physiological and psychological elements of the programme.
Guests interested in the science and clinical reasoning behind this approach can also read our taVNS: A Complete Guide to Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation and our wider guide to Nervous System Regulation.
Art Therapy and Creative Therapeutic Work
Agnes also integrates art-based therapeutic work where appropriate. For some people, words are not always the easiest starting point. Art therapy and creative therapeutic approaches can provide another route into a person’s experience, especially where emotions are difficult to express verbally.
The aim is not artistic ability. The value lies in expression through colour, image, symbol and shape, and this can be particularly useful when working with trauma, grief, identity, emotional numbness, suppressed emotion, relationship patterns, anxiety and life transitions.
Working Across Cultures
One of Agnes’s particular strengths is her experience working across different cultural backgrounds. Psychological care does not happen outside culture, and ideas about responsibility, independence, emotional expression, relationships and mental health can differ significantly between cultures.
Her extensive experience with both Western and Indonesian clients means she understands that the same emotional difficulty can be expressed very differently depending on someone’s background. Good therapy has to understand the person within their world, not simply apply a label.
Strengthening Pesona Jiwa’s Indonesian Clinical Identity
Pesona Jiwa is based in Indonesia and our clinical team reflects that. While we welcome guests from around the world, our approach is not based on importing temporary overseas practitioners into Bali.
Our work is delivered through an established multidisciplinary team that includes experienced Indonesian psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, nurses and therapeutic practitioners alongside our Clinical Director. Agnes represents an important part of that local clinical foundation.
A Multidisciplinary Approach
Guests at Pesona Jiwa are rarely treated by one discipline in isolation. Depending on the individual guest, care may include input from clinical psychology, psychotherapy, psychiatry, medicine, nursing, nervous-system regulation, taVNS, mindfulness and meditation, movement, body-based therapies and holistic practices.
This allows the programme to respond to the person as a whole rather than reducing their experience to a single diagnosis. You can meet the wider team on our Our Team page.
Psychological Care Within a Private One-Guest Model
One of the things that differentiates psychological work at Pesona Jiwa is the environment in which it takes place. We work with one guest at a time, allowing the clinical team to observe, adjust, slow down when needed and explore more deeply when the guest has capacity.
The focus remains on one person: their history, their nervous system, their goals and their recovery.
Agnes’s Role at Pesona Jiwa
As Head Clinical Psychologist, Agnes contributes far beyond a conventional counselling role. Her work can include individual psychological counselling, trauma-informed work, emotional and behavioural exploration, taVNS integration, nervous-system-focused therapeutic support, art therapy and creative therapeutic interventions, cross-cultural psychological support, collaboration with the wider clinical team, and helping adapt the therapeutic programme to the individual guest.
What makes Agnes particularly valuable to Pesona Jiwa is the breadth of what she brings together: qualified psychological care, Indonesian clinical expertise, experience with international clients, language capability, creative therapeutic work and an understanding of emerging nervous-system approaches.
Published Psychological Research
Alongside her clinical work at Pesona Jiwa, Agnes Nugrawati Salim, M.Psi., Psikolog is also a published psychological researcher.
Her academic work adds an important dimension to her role within our team. Agnes not only applies psychological knowledge in practice; she has also contributed to research examining mental health, identity, self-esteem, social wellbeing, inclusivity and psychoeducation within Indonesian populations.
Minority Stress, Self-Esteem and Social Wellbeing in Indonesian Young Adults
Agnes co-authored The Mediating Effect of Self-Esteem on the Association Between Minority Stress and Social Well-Being Among Indonesian Young Adult Gay Men and Lesbian Women.
Published in ANIMA Indonesian Psychological Journal, this research examined the relationship between minority stress, self-esteem and social wellbeing among Indonesian young adults.
Read the published research:
https://doi.org/10.24123/aipj.v39i1.5794
ResearchGate:
ResearchGate publication
Psychoeducation and Inclusivity in Indonesian Children and Young People
Agnes is also an author of Pengaruh Psikoedukasi terhadap Pengetahuan Inklusivitas pada Anak-Anak di Yayasan Panti Asuhan Z.
This research examined the impact of psychoeducation on knowledge and understanding of inclusivity among children and young people within an Indonesian orphanage setting.
Read the published research:
https://doi.org/10.24912/psenapenmas.v0i0.15215
ResearchGate:
ResearchGate publication
Research Grounded in Indonesia
Agnes’s published work strengthens her role within Pesona Jiwa because it reflects both clinical and academic engagement with psychological issues in an Indonesian context.
Her research interests have included minority stress, self-esteem, social wellbeing, inclusivity, psychoeducation, identity, and Indonesian social and cultural contexts.
Agnes brings the ability to work confidently with Western and international guests while remaining grounded in Indonesian psychological practice, culture and research. That combination supports Pesona Jiwa’s wider clinical identity: internationally accessible care delivered through a team with genuine Indonesian expertise.