https://pix11.com/2018/06/22/queens-bookstore-helps-employees-improve-their-lives/
QUEENS — It may look like just another shop on Bell Boulevard in Bayside Queens. But “Turn The Page Again” has a special mission.
Everyone who works there has a psychiatric disability.
“They may have a diagnosis of schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder,” explained Turn the Page Again founder Larry Grubler.
Nina Cassisus is the Assistant Manager — she also lives with dysthymic disorder, a chronic form of depression.
“I’ve been through a lot of hospitalizations, and a lot of medication regimes, and I used to hurt myself and it was a lot,” Cassius explained.
Her life began to turn around once she started working at Turn The Page Again.
“I liked coming to work, I liked having some money in my pocket, I liked being kind of valuable,” she told us.
Turn The Page Again is open seven days a week. Many of the books are donated by the public. Nothing costs more than $5.
For customers, Grubler hopes by shopping at Turn the Page Again “can help break the stigma of mental illness. Once they interact with someone who’s working in the bookstore and not feel afraid.”