Is consultant the right word?

I had my meeting today with Ms. Dolson to talk about my consulting project and my overall experience of the course. It opened my mind up to many things. It seemed my idea of consulting is too...literal. I always think that when the writer comes to the writing center, they either seek an answer to a problem or a way to improve their writing. As consultant, we are the one who would have to provide the solution. Being vague and just "talking" about their writing seemed to me like a way to slack off our duties and avoid responsibilities. It turned out to be different.

While it would be more beneficial for some students if we help them on some technicality issues, most of the time it's not our job to make decisions or changes on students' papers. That's their job and their job alone. Our task,  seems to be on a much more humanistic and individualistic level. It is to create a conversation, through which the writer can better understand their writing and ultimately, themselves better. To that end we should keep asking open-ended questions that prompt the writer to go through the heap of ideas inside their minds. More often than not the best thought is hidden deep inside layers of ideas that we need to help the writer peel off, layer by layer. Such idea, however, is still his and his alone. We just need to guide him to it by helping him in rediscovering his writing. This is a very humanistic viewpoint, because it assumes that everyone has deep-down a brilliant idea for a great paper. However, I think it changes our roles slightly. We are becoming more "writing therapist" than "writing consultant". It's a funny thought, but if it's should be our goal, then I will strive to achieve it.