preventive services task force. the task force advises the federal government on health. this doctor is a member of the task force and is also a psychologist at columbia university medical center. >> we want our guidelines to be an opportunity for there to be a conversation about a common disease that causes a lot of suffering, that many people live with for years without getting treatment, and if accurately diagnosed, if the right treatment is available that is evidence-based, it can be solved. >> take a look at the statistics. the national alliance on mental illness says nearly 7 percent of american adults, about 16 million people, had at least one more depressive episode last year. cdc records show more than 41,000 americans commit suicide each year. 90 percent of suicides are related to mental illness. for the first time the task force is reporting that

benefits older adults, pregnant women and new mothers. >> for a new mom who's having some sadness or hopelessness or feelings of suicide, it's a difficult conversation to start. so we're trying to be one of the advisory guidelines that helps initiate that conversation between a clinician and patient. >> reporter: heidi suffered from postpartum depression after the birth of her first child 20 years ago. she couldn't find a doctor to take her symptoms seriously and she got this advice. >> and suggested that i was more -- just very tired. i was a new mom. that i just maybe needed to get out more, that i was overwhelmed. he said maybe you'll feel better if you go buy yourself a nice new dress. >> reporter: she later attempted suicide twice. because of her experience with postpartum depression, she was inspired to get a degree in

other women suffering through that same pain. her web site is heidi cost.com. she supports the new recommendation that doctors screen all of their patients for depression. >> the universal screening is important because people don't speak up when they're down. this way, if it's universal, they'll catch a lot of people that might normally fall through the cracks. ernie: thank you for that report, linda. a very important subject. that's why we have two important here, chirlane mccray is joining me. thank you for being here. >> thank you. ernie: and the executive deputy commissioner of mental hygiene is joining us. this is such an important project. thrive nyc, a tremendous effort to overhaul the mental healthcare system of new york. i know how important it is to you. tell us why. >> thrive is important because mental illness touches every family and every suburb.

we want people to know there are risks at every stage of life. there's a treatment. there's treatment for mental illness. we want to direct people to the solutions that are available. ernie: you have a lot of programs going on. to kind of cover that issue, gary, she's right. this really touches a lot of lives. thank goodness. that stigma is disappearing. it's getting better. people are talking about it. >> it is. the piece you showed before exemplifies how this is a larger conversation. i think because people appreciate -- this is the starting point of thrive nyc -- appreciate how wide the scope of this problem is. it's not about particular people. it's about mothers, kids succeeding, about people succeeding at work. the total mental illness not just about a sub set. it touches a lot of elements, lots of parts of our lives and the health of the city. ernie: you're doing terrific things. it takes money to do this. you've got some money to work with.

billion dollars to back up the programs. 54 different programs and we're resources. it's easier for people to access around the city. first aid. you're training thousands of people. this is incredible. tell us how that's working. >> we're going to train a quarter of a million new yorkers in mental health first aid which demystifies mental illness. it teaches people to identify the signs and symptoms of what someone may be experiencing and get them comfortable being around people who are suffering. and also teaches them to respond in a crisis and direct people to resources if something is serious. ernie: and knowing what to do. are you getting good reaction? you've been out there for a while training people. what kind of feedback are you getting? >> tremendous reaction.

from hundreds of organizations. we have interest from community-based organizations, from service organizations, from city agencies, to train their workforce. you know, you had two stories, one on depression and one on the flu. about roughly -- it varies year to year, but the same number of people come down with the flu as have an episode of serious depressive disorder. it's easier to talk about flu than depression. people should feel as comfortable to talk to their family member about it, their co-worker about it. ernie: open the conversation. we heard about the program that involves helping mothers, mothers to be as well and the homeless. fill us in more on that. >> we want to make sure that every pregnant woman, every new mother, gets screened for maternal depression. it's so common. we estimate that one in 10 women who are new mothers who are pregnant suffer from maternal depression.

consequences for the woman, for the child, if not treated. it's so easy to screen for and easy to treat. we want to make sure that all our physicians who come in contact with that mother and that child are asking the mother how are you feeling? what can we do for you? ernie: connect with everyone. >> are you feeling you can't function properly? new york city is taking a bold stance. we've engaged everyone. we've got our health and hospital cooperations, the medical center and the greater hospital -- ernie: greater new york hospital association. ernie: that's wonderful. you have a lot of connecting the dots. if people want to get involved, people are listening and would say i'd like to be part of the program, how do they handle that? >> nyc.gov/thrive nyc is a source for the report, for background information.

initiatives and ways they could take a part. ernie: in a nutshell, it's going well. are you happy? >> i'm very happy. we have so much to do. i'm optimistic. ernie: chirlane, gary, thank you for joining us. come back and give us an update on thrive nyc. we have a lot more coming up, including nick's very cold forecast. right? nick: that's right. we'll be watching the temperatures progress downward over the next couple of days. when we get to the weekend, it will be the coldest air in some time and dangerously low windchill values. ernie: be here tomorrow for a special look at the flint, michigan, water crisis. what's being done to prevent a similar problem here. what you need to know. that's tomorrow at 6:00. we're taking a short break and we'll be right back.

ernie: 37 degrees in new york city at ten minutes after the hour. here's what's happening in the news for you. these top stories. no verdict yet in the trial of nypd officer peter liang. he accidentally shot and killed akai gurley in a dark stairwell back in 2014.

to be repeated and to rehear 911 recordings. they will resume deliberations in the morning. >> the federal government is filing a civil rights lawsuit against the city of ferguson, missouri. this comes a day after the ferguson city council voted to revise an agreement aimed at fixing how police treat minorities. >> the ferguson police department's violations in particular were expansive and deliberate. they violated the 4th amendment by stopping people without reasonable suspicion. by arresting them without cause and by using unreasonable force. they made enforcement decisions based on the way individuals expressed themselves. and they unnecessarily escalated nonlife-threatening situations. ernie: ferguson has been watched closely since the shooting of 18-year-old michael brown by police. city officials haven't commented on the suit. >> new jersey governor chris christie is dropping out of the presidential race.

iowa and new hampshire where he got 7 percent of the vote led to the decision. >> and the anthem of the seas will be arriving tonight in bayonne, new jersey. the ntsb is considering an investigation into why the cruise ship was caught in a storm so bad, it was forced to turn around. no one was seriously hurt, but there was plenty of damage on board. and that's what's happening in the news right now. nick is joining us and we got that arctic air coming our way. nick: it's coming. it's a gradual cool-down. it's the weekend -- ernie: it's going to really drop down, frosty. i love that nickname for you. nick: happy birthday! ernie: you're a funny man. we remember that. it's going to get really cold? nick: it is. we could be talking dangerous windchill values this weekend. we're seeing the windchill values that could be 15 to 25 below zero across the area

so that's what we're going to be watching out for. 39, 33 today. that's pretty seasonal. 41 and 20 is where we should be. record high, 61. just a trace of snow earlier. we've seen a few snow showers tonight and tomorrow but nothing big. right now 36. we just lost a degree. humidity at 46 percent. winds out of the west. we'll get breezy tonight and a gusty westerly breeze will return tomorrow. the pressure is 29.69 and rising. upper 30s across long island. it did touch 40 bridgeport, poughkeepsie, and 41 at newark and back to the upper 30s to belmar. right now the jersey shore, it's 34. same, mid 30s up towards sussex. 27 monticello. mid 30s hudson valley into southern connecticut. the wind has been busy out of the west. that will pick up tonight, 10 to 20-plus miles an hour. tomorrow, west wind 15 to 30. it turns colder tonight.

start to become a factor as we see windchill values in the teens most of the day. and a couple of snow flurries and showers north and west of the city and a few on long island on fox 5 sky guardian and a couple off to the west. we'll put that into motion. it's not a huge to-do. might get a flurry or snow shower. two disturbances are moving along. one is offshore. another to the north and west of us with the cold front first in a series of cold fronts that will come through. the second one is the arctic front. that's up here. that's going to be moving down friday night into saturday. that may have a quick burst of snow with it as it comes across the area. a little sun tomorrow morning. it will be in the low to middle 20s out the door in the city. about 20 in the suburbs. 27 lunchtime. a couple of snow showers into the afternoon. is no higher -- no higher than

let's take a look at the futurecast. you'll find the front moving down with temperatures kind of hovering around the 30 degree mark tomorrow. then we move forward. that's what we'll see by friday. we'll have a bit of sunshine. we watch the arctic front off to the north and west. look at snow associated with that. that may pop into the area friday night and there'll be a storm developing offshore. that will stay off to the east. that's not going to affect us. the arctic air does plunge in saturday into sunday. tonight lots of clouds, a couple of snow showers. the temperature drops to 23 in the city and 18 in the suburbs. limited sun tomorrow. most in the morning. clouds in the afternoon with snow showers. a gusty breeze. 30 for the high. windchill values staying in the teens. here comes the seven day. sun to clouds friday. 27. morning low 16. at night, snow squalls with the arctic air. the high on saturday may be reached in the morning. we may tumble down to 10 by later in the day.

make it feel below zero. look at saturday morning. record low is 2. i'm going for 0. windchill value can be 20 to 25 below. sunshine during the day. 16. clouds monday. snow for monday night. that could go to rain on tuesday. that depends on the track of the storm. if it goes to the west it's rain. south of us, we may have to deal with a bigger problem with snow on tuesday. we'll watch it. ernie: watch it carefully. dangerously cold weather. nick: that's the big story. ernie: i have a question for you tonight. it's time to fill in the blank. check this one out. the most difficult thing in life is learning what? some interesting answering. what do you have to say? we'll hear it coming up. keep it right here. valentine's day is this coming weekend. we'll be looking at the power of love on friday. by the way, you're going to meet a couple. i married them on television almost two years ago. see how they're doing. they'll be back here to join us. stick around. russ is next with what's

in new york state, we believe tomorrow starts today. all across the state the economy is growing, with creative new business incentives, and the lowest taxes in decades, attracting the talent and companies of tomorrow. like in the hudson valley, with world class biotech. and on long island, where great universities are creating next generation technologies. let us help grow your company's tomorrow, today at business.ny.gov (vo) want to be happy with your next vehicle purchase? at enterprise, we guarantee it. p head to your neighborhood enterprise car sales p and let the people who buy more vehicles than anyone... p change your thinking about

ernie: russ is here to talk about what's going on with the knicks. want to tell us about that very long tweet? russ: you know what? we spoke about it monday when we first heard that derek fisher was fired. i was surprised. but that's life in the nba as a coach. and in fairness, i gave phil

it was a tough decision. derek fisher was the guy he brought in to be the head coach, and i said, well, you know what, he had the courage to make the decision, okay, it looks like i made a mistake. i'm going in a different direction. but he comes out. when i read this tweet, just to give you a little bit, it says the style of leadership -- it was a four-plus word tweet. ernie: a long tweet. russ: the style of leadership i've been put in a box is transformational as juxtaposed to transactional. can you speak some basiclingo lingo for us? ernie: what was he trying to accomplish? russ: to tell us how smart he is. and to sell his book. ernie: you don't think it was focused? it was all over the place. russ: i think it was -- i'm glad

it was out of focus. it was way out of focus. again, listen, this whole season has not been a disaster. even though the knicks are getting beat -- ernie: they were doing well. russ: they were at .500. that's a couple of weeks ago. they were 22 and 22. they have a budding superstar in the nba. they lose nine out of ten. fisher gets fired. they lose last night. ernie: how are the players reacting? russ: they have to play and they're getting paid. that's life in the nba. carmelo anthony, he said i have faith in phil. i believe in the program, which is what a guy should say as a leader. he signed a big contract a couple of years ago. ernie: a lot of money. russ: he's got three more left.

live through. phil didn't do himself or the organization any good with that tweet. i think he made himself, for lack of a better term, just look silly and open himself up for criticism. ernie: keeping an eye on the knicks. thank you, russ. we have a surprise for harry potter fans. indeed, we do. there will be an eighth book, harry potter and the cursed child will be released july 31st. it's the script to the new play that will be staged in london this summer. j.k. rowling says it takes place 19 years later and says it will be released as a book because of audience demand. harry potter is coming back. >> what's the most difficult thing to learn in life? i've got some answers on that question.

keep it right here >> thanks for watching the news at 6:00. facebook. anastos. check it out. and you can also answer my daily positive questions. go to facebook.com/ernie anastos. okay. the most difficult thing in life >> discipline. disciplined. that. it is hard to learn that. >> once you're disciplined and you have self-control on who you are, i think life is easier. ernie: learning new skills. >> learning curves are not easy. ernie: that's true. you're trying to learn the guitar? >> i've been teaching myself four years. >> learn to love yourself. ernie: i'm getting a lot of philosophy on the street. yeah. tell me why you feel that way. >> once you love yourself, you can be independent. you can do things on your own. you don't need to depend on anybody. ernie: is it hard to learn to

>> yes. it takes a lot of experience and life lessons. ernie: we're still asking the question. what do you think? what's difficult to learn? >> how to be happy. ernie: how to be happy. >> it's hard to know what to do, what to like, what's okay, what's not okay. just a combination of everything, i guess. >> learning how to learn. that's the most difficult thing in life. ernie: explain that to me. >> it's about learning about yourself, getting wisdom, growing so you can help yourself and help others. ernie: learning how to learn. we're going to remember that one. i just learned something. >> me, too. ernie: nice seeing you. have a great day. bye-bye. something nice to talk about. let me know what you think. go to my facebook page. i'm ernie anastos. for all of us in studio 5 and the control room, john k., give

we'll see you tomorrow. okay. the most difficult thing to learn? russ: let grudges go. nick: when to be quiet.

wish your skin could bounce back like it used to? neutrogena hydro boost water gel. with hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. for supple, hydrated skin. hydro boost. from neutrogena introducing pizza hut's first $5 flavor menu. just $5 each when you order two or more. can i get pizza for the whole team? you got it mr. cuban! just five bucks each. wings and a hershey's cookie

yes. it's easy to say yes to our first ever $5 flavor menu.