How to Book an Appointment
You may use one of the three options to schedule an appointment. Appointments can either be in-person, by phone, or via Zoom.
Online booking
You can use our online booking system to schedule your appointment directly.
You can email [email protected]. To ensure the highest level of confidentiality, we suggest you limit the use of email for only scheduling appointments.
Phone
You can call 703-791-8587 to schedule an appointment.
To help you set your expectations for your meeting, please remember that:
The Ombudsman can
- Listen to your concerns
- Act as a neutral sounding board
- Clarify PWCS policies
- Explore options available
- Facilitate discussions between parties to resolve issues
- Collect data on emerging trends and patterns while safeguarding anonymity
The Ombudsman cannot
- Advocate for the visitor or PWCS
- Decide who is right or wrong
- Conduct formal investigations
- Serve as notice of claims against PWCS
- Overrule decisions already made
- Make or change PWCS policies or regulations
Guide to your initial appointment
While your meeting may go in several different directions depending on your specific needs, below is a general outline of your initial meeting.
- Initial Conversation - Set up a time to meet privately and confidentially either in person, virtually, or over the phone.
- Clarify Roles - Review the standards of practice for an Ombudsman and answer any questions about the role, and how the office works.
- Understand the Situation - Listen and ask questions to understand the situation from the visitor's perspective, not to decide who is right or wrong.
- Analysis - Work with the visitor to look at the issue in a different way by thinking about other individuals, issues, relationships, and causation.
- Explore Options - Identify potential options which may help to address the situation.
- Next Steps - As the visitor determines their way forward, the office may be involved as long as it is within the scope of the office.