when you start to lower the collective keep it going down
Very important. Every little bit lower you get, the more lift you're getting from ground effect, so you have to compensate by keeping the collective going down. With not much experience, if you just lower the lever what you think is enough to get the machine on the ground, then frequently the additional ground effect just soaks up your efforts and leaves you grabbing at the machine because it didn't do the landing you expected.
When a student is gripped by the yips I've had some success getting them to take advantage of the natural oscillations in hover height. It's somehow easier to avoid the yips if the machine has already decided to start the downward movement. Another exercise that seems to help is practising hovering as low as possible whilst trying NOT to land.