Looking for advice from all you wonderful people

I fully understand you can't give me legal advice, but I'm just looking for anyone with personal experience in this to tell me what might be best. I am in a position where I might need to file bankruptcy but I want to avoid that, obviously. Has anyone here ever had to go through this? How long does it take before you are able to be able to get a job / rent a place to live after that, once you've screwed over your credit so bad? Can you get fired or go to jail for filing?

I accumulated too much random debt to pay it down each month, and I can't find a job that pays more than about minimum wage. Maybe if I worked full time or more, I could do this, but I had major surgery and can't physically work full time. At the same time, I don't seem to qualify for disability or unemployment help.

I'm trapped and drowning. Has anyone been through this and made it back to being able to live normally? Is there some option I am missing? Consolidation is my last chance, but I'm not sure I will be approved for that.