Honesty is the most important thing.
Nicki, your post is one of the hardest issues that a worker has to face up to. Your fears are also shared by many other different people in all sorts of walks of life. Have you thought about how hard it is for a gay man to admit to his father that he is gay ? Have you thought how hard it is for a finance professional to admit that he is broke ? Have you thought how hard it is for a drunk to admit that he is a drunk and needs help ?
The reason that all of things above are so hard is because as a society we have pre conceived ideas of what is "normal" and "acceptable". Its sad but being different is not "normal" or "acceptable".
The greatest challenge to society today is to learn to accept people for who and what they are. Every person on the planet can contribute to this today. They can do this by accepting people regardless of their occupation, race, religion, creed, sexual orientation or dependency. I have always been able to find one thing that is special and one thing that I admire in every person I have met in my life - even those who have wronged me and whom I have not forged any bonds with. The challenge we all have is to listen, be empathetic, care and try and understand.
However, before other people can listen, care, etc about us we have to open up and be prepared to share ourselves, our beliefs, our strengths and our weaknesses. This is achieved by only one possible means - honest communication.
Nicky, the people who love you will never love you less because you choose to do a particular profession or because you are "different" in some way. The people who love you will love you even more if you are 100 % totally honest and open with them.
The Ruler