How do you stop creditors taking your tax refund if I'm unemployed and unable to make payments?

There may be no recourse. Apply for unemployment, take temporary jobs and so on. Unfortunately there are consequences that you have to live through for past behavior. If you keep plugging away, you will repay the creditors and come out okay.

You possibly can't. You owe the creditors - pure and simple - you acknowledge that a debt is owed to someone else. Put yourself in the debtors shoes ... they too have bills to pay, employees wages to pay, etc ... One needs to do whatever job is necessary in order to meet their monetary obligations, even if that means flipping burgers at the local fast food place.