He couldn't find the help he needed in Yellowknife. It led to a dangerous act of desperation

WARNING: This story discusses self-harm and contains a graphic image.

An N.W.T. man's disturbing act of desperation earlier this month shows how hard it is for vulnerable people to find the support they need to build a life, friends and advocates say.

"I don't have words to express what happened to him. Where is the humanity?" asked Diana Lubansa, speaking about her friend and former colleague Mark Dryneck.

Lubansa, a social worker, has been helpingDryneck as he recovers in hospital. She's one of a group of four Yellowknifers who have ralliedaround the 39-year-old Behchoko man, advocating for him at the hospital, and trying to find him a safe place to live once he is discharged.

On the evening of April 10, Dryneckwas looking for a place to warm up. It was5Cand windy. He had been drinking for days, had lost his jacket, and was cold.

"I had nowhere to go. No help. Nobody would open the door to me, call a cab for me."

He says a gas station attendant told him to leave, the hospital wouldn't let him through the doors, and he says he was denied entry at the Salvation Army. He also says he was not welcomed at the Yellowknife Sobering Centre, the place he had been sleeping in the previous weeks.

Frustrated and desperate, he did the unthinkable.

"What I did was grab a jerry can," he recalled, a fewdays later in the hospital.

"I came up to the Sobering Centre. I told them if they want to help me. I was so tired, freezing cold, and I came up to the door and they were all watching me They all stood up watching me."

That's when Dryneck set himself on fire.

It's not clear what exactly happened next, and Dryneckhimself has no recollection. At some point an ambulance was called and Dryneckwas taken to hospital.

He's nowrecovering from severe burns to his forehead, cheek, and ear.

CBC was unable to verify exactly what happened at the Sobering Centre that night.N.W.T. Health and Social Services Authority spokesperson David Maguire confirmedthere was an incident in front of the Yellowknife Sobering Centre that night, but offered no details.

He also says nobody was denied entry. He added that clients are refused entry only if they present a risk to staff or other clients, and will usually be given another chance to enter the following day.

Dryneck says he's speaking out now because he wants to help other people who may find themselves in similarly desperate circumstances. He says what he did thatnight was a result of trauma in his own life, and of what he sees as a failure of the institutions that are supposed to support the city's most vulnerable people.

A year of loss

Last summer things were looking up for Dryneck. He had a job operating a Bobcat andwas working on his sobriety as part of the Salvation Army's six-month withdrawalprogram. He then transferred into that organization's transitional housing program, Bailey House.

In September, tragedy struck when Dryneck's daughter died by suicide. He says he started drinking again andin January, after a dispute with a Salvation Army employee, was charged with assault with a weapon, and was forced to leave Bailey House.

"I stopped going to work, started drinking heavily and I ended up on the streets," he said.

"That's where it all started."

Scott Yuill runs a business in Yellowknife and hiredDrynecklast year as a Bobcat operator. He knew Dryneckfrom work they had done together as volunteers with the Crazy Indians Brotherhood and says he wanted to help Dryneckwith his sobriety and that Dryneck was a reliable and hard-working employee.

Yuill says he found out Dryneckhad been kicked out of transitional housing the day it happened and that he called the Salvation Army immediately to see if he could get Mark reinstated, but to no avail.

"I'm looking at [Dryneck] and say, 'Where are you going to stay now?'" Yuill recalled.

He helped Dryneckfind a room at the Northern Lites Motel in Yellowknifebut says that's when things "started spiraling out of control for Mark."

"He really wants to be sober"

Yuill is one of the small group of friends and supporters who have been paying regular visits to Dryneck's hospital room as he recovers. Theysaythey'recommitted to preventing something like this from happening to Dryneck, or anyone else, again.

"He really wants to be sober,"says Katrina Nokleby, Dryneck's friend and the MLA for Great Slave.

"So we're really just trying to co-ordinate as a group how we can support him to feel encouraged to stay on this."

Nokleby says she's frustrated that there seems to be nowhere Dryneckcan go after the hospital where he can work on rebuilding his life, staying healthy, and staying sober.

"The dam is collapsing,"she says of the territory's support system for vulnerable people.

Nokleby says they have looked into sending him to a detox centre in Alberta, but that the waitlist for N.W.T. residents is four months.

Yuill says he is disappointed with what'savailable.

"We want things better in this society,"said Yuill. "We want things better in this city We have had enough of the system.

"It's time for people to be heard."

Lydia Bardak is an advocate for people in Yellowknife without housing and she ran the Yellowknife Day Shelter for five years when it first opened. She sympathizes with people in Dryneck's position, who have been refused entry to the city's shelter system.

She says the options are, "sleep in a stairwell, or go to the police cells."

"The RCMP are not a sheltering agency there is no crime in being homeless, so why should they be there?"

While running the Yellowknife Day Shelter, Bardak says she never turned a client away and that, with the proper training, staff should be able to deal with any situation.

"Understanding the trauma and disabilities and addictions people are living with, and having a deep understanding of that so that we are not using the big stick to deal with peoples' behaviour," she explained.

"It's a matter of understanding where they are coming from and how to manage the situation using de-escalation techniques, crisis intervention techniques to help people towards better behaviour."

As it stands, the services available to people living on the street in Yellowknife include the Yellowknife Sobering Centre, The Salvation Army, The Street Outreach Van, the Yellowknife Day Shelter, The Yellowknife Women's Shelter, and the Home Base Youth Centre.

Although it's still unclear where Dryneckwill goafter he is discharged from the hospital, or where he will get the treatment he needs for his addictions, he says he would eventually like to help other people who are living without housing.

"I'm going to fight for people on the streets,"he said.

"They need help. Lots of them are hurt. I want to help them. And that's what I'm going to do."

If you or someone you know is struggling, here's where to get help:

• In the Northwest Territories, reach the NWT Help Line 24/7 at 1-800-661-0844.
• Talk Suicide Canada: 1-833-456-4566 (phone) | 45645 (text between 4 p.m. and midnight ET).
• Hope For Wellness Helpline: 1-855-242-3310 (phone, available in Inuktitut, Cree and Ojibway upon request).
• Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 (phone), live chat counselling on the website.
• Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention: Find a 24-hour crisis centre.

This guide from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health outlines how to talk about suicide with someone you're worried about.