AMHERST — A retired Holyoke firefighter who has worked as a licensed clinical social worker is being appointed as the director of the Community Responders for Equity, Safety and Service department, pending review by the Town Council.

Camille Theriaque of Holyoke is expected to begin overseeing the department, an unarmed police alternative, on April 8.

Her appointment was announced Tuesday by Town Manager Paul Bockelman after several months of an interim leadership team that was in place following the resignation of Earl Miller as its director last October.

Bockelman said in a statement that Theriaque’s skill set will support the CRESS Department in its work as a public safety agency in which addressing social service needs is a core component.

“Ms. Theriaque’s experience as a groundbreaking leader in the Holyoke Fire Department combined with her professional training and licensure as a clinical social worker brings a level of expertise that will lead the CRESS Department as it continues to develop as a key option for our public safety response,” Bockelman said in a statement.

The department, whose four teams of responders hit the streets in September 2022, was created out of recommendations from the Community Safety Working Group, a panel formed by the Town Council following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, to address racial inequities in policing and to serve as an alternative to police responses in certain situations.

In Holyoke, Theriaque rose to the rank of lieutenant, the first woman to reach that level in the city department, and after retiring earned a master’s degree in clinical social work from the Smith College School for Social Work. She most recently worked as a licensed clinician at the Behavioral Health Network’s Program for Assertive Community Treatment.

Theriaque earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at Mount Holyoke College.

Theriaque was among four finalists interviewed for the job.

The search committee was chaired by Human Resources Director Melissa Loiodice-Walker and included Allegra Clark, who co-chairs the Community Safety and Social Justice Committee; Rani Parker, who co-chairs the Human Rights Commission; Tim McCarthy, executive director of Craigs Doors; Dwayne Chamble, Out-of-School Times Program Coordinator at the Amherst-Pelham Regional Schools; Hayley Bolton, director of Senior Services; Fire Chief Tim Nelson; and Jennifer Moyston, assistant director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.

Sidonio Ferreria, a community member and special assistant to the vice chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life at the University of Massachusetts, and Health Director Kiko Malin were also involved in the interview process.

Since Miller was placed on leave last summer, an interim leadership group has been in place, made up of Nelson, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director Pamela Nolan Young, Police Sgt. Janet Griffin and Kat Newman, the CRESS program assistant.