ACT-principled conversations with Frank Marinko and Joost de Langen — for individuals, couples, and people navigating what comes next.
↓ ScrollOne framework. Four expressions of it. Online or in person. The same question at the centre of all of them.
Finding Your North Star is built on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Relational Frame Theory — one of the most rigorously researched psychological frameworks of the past three decades. ACT does not ask you to think differently. It asks you to relate differently to your thinking.
Frank Marinko has spent thirty years and more than 20,000 hours in professional conversation with people navigating exactly this. Joost de Langen brings a Vipassana-grounded philosophical practice that complements it. Together they work with individuals, couples, and people in later life — online and in person.
A brief email — who you are, where you are, what has brought you to this point. No form to fill. No questionnaire. Just a direct message to frank.marinko@gmail.com
If what you describe fits what he and Joost do, Frank will suggest a time for a 30-minute discovery conversation — at no charge. If it does not fit, he will tell you honestly.
Online conversations happen via video — one session at a time, or a structured series. In-person sessions happen in Melbourne. The immersion in Italy is a different proposition entirely.
Homework. Reflection. Conversations with people who matter. The ACT framework applied not as theory but as practice — in the specific context of your life, not a generic programme.
The framework is the same across all four. What changes is who is in the conversation and what the question feels like from where they are standing.
For people who have arrived at a point where the direction they are living no longer feels like one they consciously chose. Not a crisis — a question. One that deserves an honest answer.
Frank leads. Joost is available to lead.
Two people can share a life and still be navigating by entirely different stars. This conversation is for couples who want to find out whether they are — and what to do with that answer.
Frank leads. Joost available.
Retirement removes the structure that, for most people, has been providing direction for forty years. This conversation is for people standing at that threshold — before it quietly becomes the end of the story.
Frank leads. Joost available.
From early 2027, Frank will be based part of each year in Viterbo, in central Italy. Online conversations continue as always — with the added texture of being conducted from somewhere that has slowed the thinking down considerably.
Frank leads. Joost available. Online from Italy.
More than 20,000 hours of professional coaching across three decades. Law firms, universities, executives, individuals navigating the hardest moments. Advanced oesophageal cancer in 2023 — twelve-month CT scan came back clear. Built the North Star Protocol from thirty years of practice and one pre-op question he did not expect to survive.
Perth, 1954. Melbourne. Viterbo, from 2027.
Full story — marinko.co →Combines extensive coaching experience with years of Vipassana practice. Has delivered the North Star Protocol to Dutch clients and brings a philosophically grounded, unhurried presence to ACT work. Collaborates with Frank on the continuing development of the ACT framework and is available for individual, couples and later life conversations.
Netherlands. Italy, when the work calls for it.
Vicki Campbell (yoga and meditation), Dr. Khandis Blake (evolutionary psychology) and Shakti Ghosal (philosophy) contribute to the wider North Star Protocol network and collaborate with Frank and Joost on the ongoing development of the framework.
From early 2027, Frank and Vicki will be based part of each year in Viterbo — a walled medieval city in the hills north of Rome. Not a retreat centre. Not a programme. A place to recharge, think clearly, walk slowly, and continue the work from somewhere that earns its keep.
The work available from Italy is the same work available from anywhere: online conversations, the same ACT framework, the same question at the centre. The difference is where Frank is sitting when he asks it.
Whether that eventually means a property of their own in the region — they are open to it. For now, Viterbo is where they will find out what the next chapter looks like.
Frank and Vicki take up their Viterbo base in early 2027. Online conversations with Frank continue throughout. Follow along as the Italy chapter unfolds.
Viterbo — why here
No selling. No campaigns. Just the story as it happens — finding Viterbo, settling in, and what the work looks like from somewhere very old and very quiet.
Follow along →Your email is used only to send journey updates. Nothing else, ever.