Amy Horowitz, a resident of Syosset, was young when her parents separated and then finally divorced. Rather than sit back and let it get her down, she did something about it.

Amy described herself as feeling "strange and alone" and felt like she had no one to talk to about her parents' divorce as none of her friends understood. She had to keep her feelings bottled up inside of her.

Amy, now 18 years old, realized that she could not be the only one suffering in secrecy. These thoughts turned into reality and Amy started an Internet chat room allowing teens to talk anonymously about their feelings with other teens in similar circumstances. "She has an amazing way of turning every negative situation into a positive one," said her mother Margie Horowitz.

The inspiration for the website came to Amy while she was at summer camp in Harvard. "As I lay in my dorm room at Harvard Summer School, I recalled those nights when I would cry myself to sleep. I realized that there must be thousands of kids all over the world who are experiencing a similar type of pain," Amy recounts in an excerpt from her college essay.

"These adolescents, like me, may not have anyone to whom they can relate. They may not be able to afford therapy and may not be benefiting from it. If I had been able to communicate with a friend who was experiencing a similar situation to mine, it would have taken away some of my pain and made me feel less lonely and strange," Amy wrote.

The web site, which was officially launched last week, is called Kids In Difficult Situations (KIDS) and can be accessed at http://K-I-D-S.freeyellow.com.

Other topics that teens can chat about on the site are substance abuse, homosexuality, fatal illnesses, physical or emotional abuse, death, eating disorders and social exclusion - all topics that Amy considers important to teens.

Amy started work on this website in her junior year of high school. As she was doing research and writing proposals, she was working on getting funding. It took a great deal of time to get backing for her nonprofit program at a time of service cutbacks in Nassau County.

Amy tried many places in Nassau for backing and finally turned to Syosset Counseling Center, a private nonprofit agency serving community emotional and social needs.

The center agreed to run the site and provide staff counselors to monitor discussions. This month, the center just began scheduling one-hour chats in each of the categories included on the site.

If someone would like to become a mentor and help the teens in the chat rooms by offering advice and being an ear for kids in need of help, the Center must receive approval from their high school guidance counselor to ensure the child's stability. Then matches are made and guidelines are e-mailed to the mentor.

Mentors are advised to be a friend and not to council the person or feel obligated to solve their problems, but to be a person with whom they can relate.

Adolescents are encouraged to discuss their feelings with one another and mentors will provide struggling kids with hope and support. The Kids Board, composed mainly of adolescents, has collectively worked out the finer details.

This organization is an attempt to have adolescents help each other. "We want to give America's youth a positive alternative to depression, namely expression," said Amy.

Amy's parents filed for divorce in Jan. 1992 and it dragged on for five years before it was settled in Feb. 1997.

"Although I would like to turn back time and erase many painful memories, I would never give up my knowledge," said Amy. "The maturity and compassion I have developed as a result of my parents grueling and hateful divorce has shaped my character. I look at life differently now. I am optimistic and eager to indulge in whatever new experiences come my way. I no longer hide behind a brick wall in an attempt to prevent pain."

Margie could not be happier. "I am glad that something good came out of everything that we went through," she said.

This project was not done for school, but rather in addition to all of the schoolwork and extra-curricular activities that Amy was involved in. She was absorbed in a number of volunteer activities, including Habitat for Humanity and the New York City Rescue Mission. She was also the features editor of The Inkwell, the Friends Academy newspaper, the photography editor of the yearbook, the captain of the varsity basketball team and got straight A's, even when her parents were battling through the divorce.

Amy graduated from Friends Academy in Locust Valley in May and is now a freshman at Boston University with a double major in broadcast journalism and psychology.

"I think that is how she got through the divorce - she just threw herself into her work," said Margie. "She felt she could not control anything that was going on at home so she would take complete control of her life in school. She was like a tornado. I do not know how she did it. I am in awe of her - she is just brilliant."

Amy is not the only one in the family who has succeeded and risen above the stress of a divorce. Her younger brother, Jeffrey, is now a freshman at Friends Academy. "He is just amazing too," said his unbiased mother Margie. She describes him as being very helping and compassionate and always looking to better himself.

"I am very proud of both my children," said Margie. "You do not always get everything that you want in life and sometimes everything in life is a trade-off. At least I got great children and what's more important than that?"