Incorporating Spirituality into Post-Secondary Institutions’ Policies and Services as it Relates to International Students

Some international students arrive in Canada with the assumption that academic institutions will treat them equally in comparison to domestic students. However, equal access to opportunities is not always the case. Unregulated annual tuition fees, immigration policies and a lack of culturally responsive services create challenges for international students that are not shared by domestic students (Chen, 2008; Mayuzumi et al., 2007; Montison, 2018). Canadian post-secondary institutions lack culturally responsive spiritual services that may support international students with their acculturation issues. Child and youth care practitioners may encourage the use of culturally responsive interventions which incorporate spirituality when providing support to international students in their acculturation to Canadian life. Keywords: spirituality, attachment theory, attachment figure, religion, faith, international students, Child and Youth Care Practitioners, post-secondary institutions, Canada, Canadian Government.