Actually this does help knowing others overcome their phobias by actually being more "out there" than normal. Since I posted, I did a few more caches around Popham and Dodge Point. I feel quite comfy in the woods, on paths where people are "supposed to be"; it's the guardrail nanos and the city center LPCs etc which still get me very nervous.
I have actually set my pocketqueries to only give me larger-than-nano sized caches as most of the larger ones tend to be out of town.
Thanks for your responses, "she" (ahem) hasn't gone onto a new hobby just yet ;-)