Hair dye help

So my hair right now is dyed dark brown almost black, and I want to go a lighter brownish red. My friend who has dyed her hair all sorts of colors said since my hair is so dark, I'd have to do some bleach baths and then dye my hair the color I want. Does anyone have any advice for me because I don't have the money to get it professionally done and anyways every time I've gone to get it done, they totally screw it up. My hair is kinda semi damaged and I want to leave it as healthy as possible. Obviously I know this is going to entail some hair lightening with bleach but I just wanted to hear some advice and opinions and experiences! 😊