The role of the consultant in the mental health consultation process has been marked by disagreement. One view maintains that consultation should be a collaborative venture between consultant and consultee. Alternately, another view holds that consultants should make use of their expert power and direct the consultation process. Empirical evidence supports each position, and differences between these camps are largely semantic. This article offers a delineation of these differences and proposes a two-dimensional model of consultation that embraces both perspectives. Along one dimension of this model lies the poles of coercion and collaboration; coercion is the use of consultant power to manipulate the consultee while collaboration is the process of joining with the consultee and employing a team approach to consultation. The other dimension of this model is the degree of directiveness in which the consultant directs or steers the consultation process. Any consultation can vary along each of the two dimensions and more accurately capture the dynamics of the consultation process. (Contains 19 references.) (JDM)