About Pierre and his approach
Meet Pierre West, Specialist Wellness Counsellor
Your experiences, relationships and hopes for change are your own. Counselling needs to make room for that.
My role is to listen carefully, help you make sense of what is happening and work with you on practical ways to support your emotional and relational wellbeing.
Meet Pierre
A little about me
I’m Pierre West, an ASCHP-registered Specialist Wellness Counsellor and the founder of Restoring Wholeness. I work with adults individually, with couples, and with families and groups, through emotional difficulties, relationship strain and patterns that leave people feeling stuck.
Many people contact me because they want someone to listen properly and take their situation seriously. That is where we begin. Sessions are available in Cape Town and online across South Africa, in English and Afrikaans.
Qualifications and registration
- BAppSocSci in Psychology and Counselling, SACAP
- BAppSocSci Honours in Psychology, SACAP
- ASCHP-registered Specialist Wellness Counsellor
- In practice since 2022
You are more than the difficulty that brought you here
Restoring Wholeness began with that belief. Our experiences, emotions, relationships, beliefs and habits often affect one another. Looking at these connections can help us understand how we have learned to cope and what we might want to change.
The aim is to help you live in ways that feel healthier and more consistent with who you are.
How I work
My approach is collaborative and practical. We look at what is happening now, the patterns that may be contributing to it and the changes you would like to make.
Where appropriate, I draw on established counselling frameworks and tools. You help set the pace, and we review together whether the sessions are useful.
What sessions can look like
Early conversations focus on what brought you here, what has been happening in your life and what you would like to be different. You don’t need to arrive with the right words or a finished plan.
From there, we can identify patterns and practise different ways of responding.
First sessionPractical tools we may use
Thoughts and beliefs
Notice the thoughts and long-held beliefs that influence how you feel and respond, and consider whether they still fit your experience.
Emotions
Build language for what you feel and practise staying with difficult emotions without becoming overwhelmed by them.
Behaviour and habits
Identify patterns you want to change and work on small, repeatable alternatives.
Relationships
Understand recurring conflict, distance or defensiveness, and practise clearer communication.
Looking at the whole person
Depending on what you bring, we may explore your thoughts, emotions, habits, relationships, life experiences, values and sense of meaning. These are connected parts of your life, rather than separate boxes to work through.
Thoughts
The way we interpret ourselves, other people and what happens to us.
Emotions
What we feel, what we avoid feeling and what those feelings are pointing to.
Behaviours & habits
The patterns we repeat, including the ones we have tried to stop.
Relationships
How we connect, communicate, withdraw and repair with the people closest to us.
Life experiences
The events and seasons that shaped how we cope today.
Meaning & values
What matters to you, and whether your life currently reflects it.
Sleep, energy, stress and other aspects of physical wellbeing may also come into the conversation. Where medical input is needed, I’ll say so.
Faith and counselling
If you want your Christian faith to form part of counselling, we can include questions of faith, meaning and spirituality. This is always your choice. Faith-based discussion is never imposed, and people of any faith or none are equally welcome.
My professional scope
I practise as an ASCHP-registered Specialist Wellness Counsellor, supporting emotional, relational and personal wellbeing. I do not provide psychology, psychiatry or medical care, diagnose mental health conditions or prescribe medication.
You are welcome to ask about my training and registration before booking. If your needs fall outside my scope, I’ll explain this and help you find appropriate support.
Confidentiality and boundaries
What you share is treated as confidential, subject to limited ethical and legal exceptions. These include a serious risk of harm or a legal requirement to disclose information. I’ll explain these clearly at the start.
Outside those exceptions, I won’t share information with family, employers or medical schemes without your consent.
Ask what you need to know
Choosing someone to speak to is personal. If you have questions about working together, you are welcome to ask before booking.