This paper explores the perspectives of two communities in New South Wales, drawing on their lived experiences of community-wide crises to establish what community resilience means and how it is best supported. The insights from these communities reveal policy opportunities for the NSW Government that could boost community resilience in future.

INTRODUCTION Recent reports indicate that social policy in developed countries has seen positive results in well - child health and safety, child material security, education and socialisation (UNICEF, 2007) . In countries where child health is supported by policy, children have relatively high levels of well - being as measured by material well - being...