When Marie-Noëlle Besançon first encountered the world of psychiatry and the plight of patients in psychiatric hospitals in the 1970s, while she was a young resident, she was deeply moved. In 1990, she founded the organization Les Invités au Festin with the goal of:

• To provide a welcoming space for sharing and socializing for people who are lonely, inactive, and/or struggling with interpersonal relationships
• To enable them, through the connections they can form with others, to explore their existential and relational capacities
• Helping them find meaning in their lives by preventing social exclusion
• Changing society's perception of people with mental health issues