INBW18: The Podcast on Podcasts, with Alex Akers and Sean Erreger

Sean Erreger is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW, MSW) in New York State with an undergraduate degree in psychology. Sean has over a decade of practice experience in a variety of settings, including foster care prevention, psychiatric emergency room, adolescent day treatment, and adult inpatient. Currently, he is a clinical case manager for children and adolescents at risk of inpatient psychiatric hospitalization and/or out-of-home placement.

Alex Akers is vice president for business development with Health Catalyst, a Utah-based, next-generation data, analytics, and decision-support company. He has been with Health Catalyst since 2015. Alex began his career in health care consulting, working for KPMG and Accenture in their health care strategy practices, and then shifting to revenue cycle reengineering with Stockamp & Associates. His passion for technology in health care really took off after he joined Microsoft and was responsible for health care strategy in their payer segment. After a stint with Grand Rounds in San Francisco, Alex landed at Health Catalyst.

00:00 The purpose of podcasts. 01:40 Industry-specific podcasts as a great way to absorb information and make unproductive time productive. 05:15 Getting context through podcasts. 05:40 Podcasts helping with work-life balance. 06:00 “It’s a way to get creative.” 06:35 Finding new podcasts through keyword searches and apps like Pocket Casts and Overcast. 10:50 What it means to subscribe to a podcast. 11:20 Following timelines to seek out specific information vs being a casual listener. 12:10 Alex’s podcast recommendations. 13:35 Sean’s blog, stuckonsocialwork.com, and his self-guided course on social media ethics for social workers. 14:15 Using podcasts as a way to help make the workday less mundane while gaining a better sense of various topics. 16:30 How Sean gets most of his podcasts—through Google Play or iTunes. 20:30 Sean’s podcast recommendations for social work.