<human>: Can you provide a brief rundown of the text in within 3 sentences?

**FACTS/HISTORY**

* Been a shitty combination of down on my luck and irresponsible for years of my life 
* I've racked up a bunch of foolish debts over the years
* The debts are a variety of consumer debts, old store card, old phone bills, a repossessed car, medical bills incurred while uninsured, things of that variety
* The debts range from $120 - $5,000, totaling about $16,000
* Some of these are very old and very likely beyond the statute of limitations on payment/legal action/credit reporting 
* I have a variety of old collection notices, sometimes from different companies, for different amounts

**CURRENT SITUATION**

* Finally getting my shit together and I have a decent job
* I want to start cleaning up my credit
* Been working hard to pay current debts and keep them clean
* Paying off student loans, slowly but surely and on time (those never went bad, I always qualified for deferments/forbearance cause of my financial situation)

**I THINK I NEED HELP?**

I don't trust the collection organizations and I'm afraid to send my money to an unscrupulous organization, naturally. I've had bad experiences trying to deal w/ collection agencies in the past. I just want to be sure that my money is applied to the debt that I actually owe and that it is reflected on my credit reports. I feel like I have little to no power when dealing with collection agencies/law firms. I'm afraid to call any of them - never sure if they're being honest, if the debt is even still theirs, etc. Once I make contact, they'll start to harass me nonstop (considering purchasing a prepaid phone to deal with this exclusively.) 

I feel a bit overwhelmed trying to get to the bottom of this mess. 

I think I can work this all out without filing for bankruptcy. I'm ready to start chipping away at this mountain.
<bot>: Is this the type of situation in which I should hire an attorney? If so, what kind of attorney would I hire? What's reasonable to pay for the help I need? Any other insight or words of advice?