You have been set up in a plan that appears to be the very thing you were lacking towards attaining financial help. Like liposuction solves the diet problems of obese folks, these financial saviors do little to change your habits. Finding hidden opportunities within your budget is well and good. But they can be found without the help of an outside professional. Putting yourself on a financial diet of your own is low cost and requires the same patience and fortitude.
Debt takes time to reduce.
It also takes diligence. As long as you are paying any interest at all on debt outside of things such as your home and car, you should forget about investing. It has a subtractive effect canceling out any chance of making gains. Using equity in your home to fix this situation is not only economically dangerous but also spreads the length of the loan over many more years and also jeopardizes your home. Should any kind of economic downturn effect you directly and you need to liquidate, your equity has been compromised.